


Season 6 - The Crystal Chronicles

by Milo_F_Waters



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2020-03-05 23:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 74,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18838648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milo_F_Waters/pseuds/Milo_F_Waters
Summary: Steven has finally solved the conflict between Homeworld and the Crystal Gems! Now he and all the newly-reformed Gems are free to live in harmony...or are they?Co-written by the wonderful Eternos137 from Fanfiction.net.





	1. Getting to Know You

**Author's Note:**

> My first collaboration! This will be a sequel and, as such, everything in canon is still counted as such. Without further ado, enjoy!

_Once upon a time, long after the Gem rebellion ended, Rose Quartz was walking down the beach when she heard a strange noise. It was a type of music she had never known and stepped closer. She found a concert with no one in the audience and a long-haired human calling himself Mr. Universe on stage, playing his heart out for an empty crowd._

_As Rose stared, amused by this curious man, his song ended and the two formally met. Rose immediately came to like this human, named Greg, and met him several more times. While Rose had come to befriend several humans in the past, Greg was the first who captured her heart. He abandoned his dreams to stay with her and she came to see him as the most wonderful man on planet Earth._

_After several months of meetings and lovings, Rose learned of something called motherhood. This, in short, was how humans were made and was captivated about how she could make a human of her very own._

_However, there was a problem with this process... Rose quickly learned that if she had this human, called a child, it would mean giving up her physical form. After weeks of deciding, she eventually could not resist and together she and Greg had a child named Steven. Before the actual birth however she made preparations to make sure the child would be well-cared for..._

_She left three gems, the last of the Crystal Gems, to look after this child as well as any remaining threats on Earth. These Gems were Garnet, Amethyst, and her own personal friend and companion, Pearl._

“And that child… is me,” said Steven to the assembly of dozens of gems sitting on the beach in front of the temple. He lifted his shirt to show the pink gem that was his navel. A wave of gasps emerged from the crowd, instantly recognizing their leader’s stone.

“So... Rose is gone?” asked a brown Gem in confusion.

“Well,” Steven said, “Yeah, and no. My mom left me a message saying that she would still live on as a part of me.”

“So Rose will come back?!” asked a green Gem. Her excitement spread through the crowd like wildfire.

“No, we’re sure she’s gone for good,” said Steven with some remorse. The crowd was silenced in a millisecond.

“They’re taking it better than I expected,” commented Pearl. She was standing behind him along with what could be considered the main bulk of the Crystal Gems: Garnet, Amethyst, Bismuth, Lapis, Peridot along with Greg and Connie who wanted to see more of their extended family.

“Remember that not all of them were as attached to Rose as you,” reminded Garnet, making the slender Gem turn blue in the cheeks.

“Man, there’s so many of them!” wondered Connie, “How did you find them all?”

“The same way she found us, giving us something different to live for,” Bismuth answered.

“Really? The way I see it, my life has become profoundly more chaotic since I’ve arrived on this planet!” snarked Peridot, adjusting her comically large glasses.

“So you wouldn’t mind giving me all your Camp Pining Hearts DVDs?” asked Lapis. The green techie literally hissed at this.

“Lay one touch stub on them and I will never forgive you!”

“Heh heh, nerds…” chuckled Amethyst to herself. Back at the crowd, Steven was now taking any questions from the Gems in front of him. Most of them were one variant or another of “How are you like Rose?” It took him several minutes of explaining that he was part-Rose and part human. With their curiosity sated for the moment, the group dispersed and went about their separate ways.

“So, does that clear everything up for you, Jasper?” asked Pearl in the most polite tone she could manage. The hulking orange Gem stood at the very back of the crowd, not moving an inch with her arms crossed; she looked as upset as ever.

“Um, Jasper? Are you alright?”

“NO, I’M NOT!” shouted the monumental gem, “I’m stuck on this planet with nowhere to go and nothing to do! And on top of that, you’re telling me the Gem responsible used to be _Pink Diamond_!?”

“Jasper, we told you that weeks ago,” groaned Lapis, “Get over it already.”

“Watch your mouth around me, you little…” she moved forward, but was immediately met with Bismuth and Garnet pushing her back.

“Don’t try to start anything,” ordered Garnet, “I’m in charge here and you will not start a fight while I’m around.”

“Unless you want us to call the Diamonds and tell them you hit one of Pink’s closest friends?” taunted Bismuth. Jasper just rolled her eyes and stomped off, more than likely to the nearest rock so she could take her anger out on it.

“Guys, she’s still trying to adjust to all of this,” Amethyst said to the others, “Cut her some slack!”

“She’s been growling at everyone and starting fights from day one,” sneered Lapis, “I say we just let her go if she hates it here so much…”

“Uh guys,” spoke up Greg, “I’m kinda with Lapis here. I mean, if she really doesn’t want to stay, then maybe we can just let her go. I mean, it’s got to be better than her staying in the house. With Steven!”

“Greg, I understand your worries,” assured Pearl, “But I believe that keeping Jasper close is important since she needs constant supervision. As much as it may not look like it, she went through a terrible revelation and the healing could take quite some time.”

“Plus, I may have a loose grasp on Earth currency, but I know that letting a Gem who possesses superhuman strength and severe anger issues loose on an unsuspecting populace is a terrible idea. Even your substantial wealth would be depleted in a week, at best,” added Peridot. Greg suddenly went wide eyes at the possibility of paying all of that potential property damage. He quickly realized he was dealing with the lesser of two evils. It was hard for him to believe that in only a month ago he only had about six Gems to contend with. Now he had no hope of even counting them all.

\---

Meanwhile, light years away at the Gem Homeworld, White Diamond was currently in her personal chambers.

Despite her promise to Steven to spend more time outside her personal domain, she found herself with a hard truth to face.

Running an intergalactic empire was so hard!

She swore to do more of her fair share, to not let Blue and Yellow handle everything, but there was so much to keep track of! Shifting planetary conditions, the ever-dwindling resources, managing so many new technological creations, or maybe the fact that their planet was literally cracking at the seams. Even she all but hit herself over how she could miss _that_ little detail!

She was desperately trying to take more of the workload off the other Diamonds, but after millennia of being the man behind the man, she would often retreat there whenever she felt overwhelmed. She held her arms out in the same pose she had held for so long, contemplating all the changes that we being made and wondering if it was too late to go back to the way things were.

It was then that her new Pearl, a white-colored one with her grey hair done in a large bun on the back of her head, warped in with a message.

“My Diamond,” she stated with a monotonous voice ruined by a worried tone, “We have news from one of our drone scouts near a planet deemed acceptable for colonization.”

“Let me guess,” White Diamond droned, “Another rebellion?”

“Actually, y-yes, that’s exactly it!”

White could already feel her eye start twitching. “What?”

“We’ve received several messages from our ships and bases that they are being hijacked by unknown forces. There have been no survivors of any encounter with these forces.”

“Have you received any useful intelligence about these invaders?”

The worried expression on the Pearl was more prominent upon being asked this question, “Well actually yes, they seemed to inscribe this odd sigil over the ruins of the sites in question. When I cross-referenced this to the information in the history archives there was a match, but… I couldn’t access and further information. It was restricted you see…”

The Pearl then showed an image of the sigil in question via projection from her gem. White was in shock at what she just saw.

It was similar to the insignia used by the Diamond Authority itself, but was made of six diamonds instead of four.  Each of the diamonds were also arranged differently. There were five diamonds; yellow, blue, black, red, and pink arranged into a pentagon shape with a larger white diamond in the middle. The pentagon itself was drawn in a thick, magenta and purple outline. However, White knew something was off as this old sigil was supposed to have a more elegant _rainbow_ colored outline. Unless...

White immediately contacted Yellow and Blue Diamond. She ordered them both to drop whatever they were doing and set their ships on a course for Earth. When asked why, she only told them that they needed to see Pink Diamond as soon as possible.

\---

The next day in Beach City was as bright and sunny as its populace came to expect from the sleepy town. Steven was enjoying his cereal on the porch, basking in the morning sun and the calming waves. As he ate his breakfast, he was happily watching the construction crews at work on the beach.

With the corrupted Gems finally cured after so long, they quickly realized that there were simply too many of them to stay in the temple. Thankfully, Mayor Dewey was so grateful that the last alien invasion caused such minimal damage, he okayed the gems building some housing along the rocks and road at the beach that lead back to the temple. As Steven saw, there were a little over a dozen homes being built, each as unique as the last.

“Hey Steven!” greeted the Nephrite formerly known as the centipeedle.

"Centi!" Steven said cheerfully, "What's up?"

"Well," she replied, "I never got the chance to formally thank you for everything you've done for me, especially considering I wasn't exactly myself at the time."

“Hey, it’s hard to thank someone when you can’t form words, it’s okay.”

“Yeah…” she pulled out a bag of her favorite chips from her gem, “I’m just sad that we could have been enemies back in the day.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I was still fighting for Homeworld when that light came, remember? If I met you back then, I would have had to fight you…”

Steven stood and took her hand. “Don’t think like that, Centi. We’re friends now and plus now the Diamonds are our friends too! That means we have nothing to worry about!”

The nephrite smiled as the two started down the beach, an impromptu road being formed between the shells of small houses being made for the throng of new Crystal Gems.

“It’s nice to see that things are getting better…” she told Steven.

“Yeah,” The boy stated, “It took some ups and downs, but things finally worked out in the end.”

As the took in the construction around them, the best word to summarize the experience would be chaos. The newer Crystal Gems had missed millennia of progress, so the adjustment from a time of hunter-gatherers to the modern day would be an immense change for them. Just yesterday they had a group of gems confusing a bulldozer with a mechanical weapon that they had to destroy. Pearl took it upon herself to educate her old comrades about all the facets of modern living from cellular technology to indoor plumbing to the proper way to get rid of dust bunnies.

“Well, mostly,” Steven added in hindsight. Amethyst, Peridot and Lapis, not being a part of the original Crystal Gems, treated the entire endeavor as one giant meet-and-greet with them all getting to know as many of the new faces as possible. Even with so many to meet, all three of them took it in stride and found themselves enjoying either hearing stories about the old days or telling anecdotes about their time with Steven.

Bismuth, on the other hand, was too busy with work to pay much attention to all her old friends. As the member of the group with the most building expertise, Bismuth aided the human construction workers brought on by Greg to assist with all the work they would have to do. The only one she took time out of her schedule for was Biggs, the brown-colored jasper who seemed glued to the larger purple gem’s side. While Bismuth was loud and boisterous, Biggs was more than content to just listen and only occasionally talk back. It suited her friend just fine as she had dozens of projects on her mind all at once.

Greg was also contributing in any way he could, namely keeping the human workers on track and bankrolling the whole thing. He was more grateful now that Marty, sleazebag as he was, sold more of his old songs as commercial jingles over the years so he had a steady income for the project thanks to royalties. He also made an effort to introduce himself to many of the newer gems, though it was a slow process. He seemed especially fond of the two pebbles formerly known as the heaven and earth beetles, if nothing else for the fact that they were the least threatening since they could fit in the palms of his hands.

“Heheh,” he said, holding them in his hands at that very moment, “I guess you guys are kinda cute...”

That left Garnet to herself for the most part with her main job: babysitting Jasper. Everywhere the orange bruiser stormed off, Garnet kept an eye on her to ensure she would not cause too much collateral damage.

At the moment Jasper was sitting by herself, grumbling. The other Gems in the area instinctively avoided her, too intimidated by her aggressive presence to do more than stare. Who could blame them, with her tendency to sneer and growl at any of the Gems present? She also did NOT appreciate being called a “Crystal Gem” in any description as the one unfortunate sap to make that mistake was almost clobbered. It took Garnet, Bismuth AND Lapis to get her under control after that.

Garnet looked at her, both with worry, and with concern. Even after a month to cool off, she was still an angry wreck who showed no signs of changing her ways. Granted, she was the only one of the new arrivals who learned the truth about Rose’s actual identity. The permafusion expected the Gem to take it hard, but it seemed to only worsen the resentment she harbored for them all. If Steven so much as got close to her, she looked ready to commit bloody murder.

And that was NOT a chance his three mother figures, as it were, were willing to take.

Upon noticing that Garnet was observing her, she yelled, “WHAT!? _Whaddaya want!?_ ” Any nearby Gems either took a step back or rushed away upon that outburst. Back at the temple house balcony, Steven and Nephrite saw this.

“That…,” Nephrite whispered, “Is the most aggressive Quartz I’ve ever seen.”

“Yeeaahhh," Steven said, "She’s going to need some work…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that started, there's a lot more to come! How will Jasper get along on Earth? What's got White Diamond so worried? How long can Centi feed her chip habit before Greg goes bankrupt? Find out next time!  
> Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave comments or questions below!


	2. Getting to Like You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, everybody! Here we see some shenanigans at the temple before some new characters enter the picture.

Later that night, every human in Beach City was preparing to turn in for the night. The Gems who now lived there had to be informed beforehand about how humans need to sleep. Some of them were confused while others thought it made some sense. Many could now see how Rose found the planet so fascinating with a population that had so many unique quirks. While many of the Gems were simply content to entertain themselves and/or make smaller progress on the construction that would not disturb the residents of the temple, the main Crystal Gems returned to their respective rooms. As Steven was gearing up for bed, he looked outside and spotted his beloved pet Lion.

The cat was quite peculiar. Despite being relatively domesticated, he still comes and goes as he pleases. At the very least, Steven never got any complaints about his massive pink pet causing any trouble around the neighborhood. What struck him as odd was that Lion once died, but was revived by Rose Quartz using her powers. He started to wonder if that made Lion a gem himself? Given that his gigantic mane was now a portal to a pocket dimension used by Rose, and now Steven, as a sort of storage space, it made him wonder just how that whole reviving process worked, especially since he accidentally performed it himself on his friend Lars.

Lion, however, simple stared in his general direction. “Lion,” Steven said, “You know I don’t like it when people stare at me while I sleep.” The feline did not avert his gaze.

“Come on, buddy, what is it? Are you hungry?” Lion simply blinked, as communicative as always.

“You just want to sleep on my face again, don’t you?” Lion blinked again, then simply turned, walking away. Steven then let out a sigh.

“At least he’s easy to train!” he giggled to himself as he tucked himself in. Something told him tomorrow would be an interesting day.

\---

Bismuth was hard at work burning the midnight oil in her new room in the temple. The place could be loosely described as a forge/home garage with half-finished weapon designs and blueprints strewn all over the room. Unlike the other rooms, the place was a silver cube that seemed to be just an ordinary, if bland, workshop. What many people did not know, however, was that it functioned as a less-powerful version of Rose’s room. The blacksmith even had a lava vent coming in from Garnet’s room installed simply by willing it. Bismuth was currently building new parts and materials for the Gems to continue building their homes with. However, there was another side project that she was working on as well.

After seeing Connie’s sword, the blade that once belonged to Rose, destroyed in the fight against the diamonds she made it a mission of hers to make a new sword for the girl to use and make it sturdier than ever. On top of that, this one would actually be made for a teenage human and not an alien warrior twice her height. As she began working on the blade, though, she also began to think of Steven and how impressive his skill with Rose’s shield was…

“Bismuth? Are you in there?” said Pearl from the temple door.

“Come in!” she shouted as she was brought back to reality.

“Wow,” Pearl said, looking at the new room, “You’ve really settled in, haven’t you?”

“Well, what can I say?” Bismuth said, “You can’t keep a good Bismuth down!”

The slender gem chuckled at her intentionally bad pun. “Well, at least now we don’t have to travel between that old forge and here.”

“Yeah, I wish we had the temple like this back in the old days...But hey, we pounded it out either way! Now what brings you to my shop?”

“I… mostly wanted to apologize.”

“What about? That modification for your spear break or something?”

“Oh no! I never have a problem with your work! But… I do have a problem with how I was keeping secrets from you.” Pearl looked at the floor in shame.

“You mean about Rose and-”

“Pink Diamond, yes. I felt compelled to tell you all so many times, but I couldn’t break my last order from my Diamond…”

“Pearl, I don’t blame you for anything. And I know nobody else would be angry towards you either.”

“Sapphire sure didn’t feel that way…”

“Oh yeah,” Bismuth said nervously, “Steven told me about that part… she reacted way worse than I did.” The blacksmith remembered how it took her screaming into a lava pool to relieve the shock after Steven dropped the larger-than-life revelation on her, “But hey, like Steven said, it all worked out in the end! We’re all back together, the Earth is safe, the Diamonds are friends… and I still can’t get used to that.”

Pearl chuckled at this. “It is pretty surreal. Who’d have thought that after so much fighting we’d not only win, but we’d finally make peace with Homeworld?”

“Not me, that’s for sure! Take it from me, Pearl, you’re not the only Gem whose made _really_ stupid moves.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Pearl then looked at one of the areas of the forge and saw some drawings.

“Hey, Bismuth? What’s this?” She took one of the drawings and saw an image of herself, Garnet, Amethyst, Bismuth and Steven standing triumphantly on a podium. All drawn with crayon.

“Oh, that? Steven drew that for me a while ago.”

The pale gem could only laugh at the boy’s antics. “I can’t believe how much he’s grown either. Last year I was worried about him getting scrapes on his bike. Now he’s gone into space repeatedly and brokered peace with White Diamond. It’s all happening so fast…”

“And look on the bright side, now he can live without worrying about any Gems going after him.”

“You’re right. Thanks, Bismuth. I missed having someone else to talk to.”

\---

The next morning Steven woke up refreshed. After showering, brushing his teeth, and enjoying a hearty breakfast he was looking forward to a day with Connie while the Gem housing project was being done. As he walked out the door, he turned around and spotted a note taped to it.

“What’s this?” he said to himself as he picked up the note and tried to read it. It started out in the language that Gems use, but was crossed out and replaced with English halfway through.

_Go to the woods on the outskirts of Beach City. Brings friends if you must. Signed, “A new friend.”_

Steven, having been through his fair share of trouble, immediately showed the note to Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet.

“Welp, here we go again,” remarked Amethyst.

“Going on what again?” asked Pearl.

“More crazy adventures, duh! I knew sooner or later we’d get more weirdness around here.”

“She’s got a point…” added Garnet.

“So, I suppose we have no choice then but to head out,” groaned Pearl, “This person already knows where you are so if we refuse, they can just show up here and do who knows what!”

“Should we bring anyone else?” asked Steven.

“Nah, dude, we’ve got this!” Amethyst said with confidence.

“I’m not sure,” Pearl said, “We don’t know who or what we’ll be dealing with here. For all we know, this could be a ruse to draw Steven out.”

“We can have Lapis watching us from above in case anything goes wrong,” suggested Garnet, “Otherwise, the three of us together should be enough to handle most threats.”

“Plus, I’m not some defenseless kid anymore! I can handle myself…”

As he was backing up his boasts, literally, Steven ended up walking himself right in front of the porch stairs and took a tumble down.

“Steven! Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine...Can I please have an ice-pack?”

“Yeah, he should be fine! There’s no stairs in the woods!” joked Amethyst as Pearl pulled out the ice-pack from her gem.

\---

About an hour later, the four main Crystal Gems were in the woods on the trail to meet with their mysterious “new friend.” They took Garnet’s suggestion and brought Lapis along for some airborne recon, trying to find this unknown person as well. As the grouped neared their destination, she flew down to the others.

“I found someone nearby. He was wearing this big cloak and hood, so I couldn't tell who it was,” she reported.

“Thanks Lapis!”

“No prob, Bob.”

“It’s Steven!”

The two chuckled at their inside joke before she took off again. This time the Gems followed the direction she flew in. With their blue guide, they found their way to a small clearing where the cloaked figure stood.

“Excuse me, are you the one who left that note?” asked Steven.

The unknown figure seemed to smile warmly, then took a step forward. Unfortunately the figure then tripped over. Easily.

“Well...So much for a dramatic entrance,” mumbled the cloaked figure with a noticeable British accent on his voice.

“Can we help you?” asked Pearl.

“Yes, you can!” he exclaimed as he righted himself, “I’m on the lookout for Pink Diamond, or well her gem anyway, and this is the last planet it was seen on. And now that I’ve been here, I can see why! This place is full of so many bizarre sights, like these strange white apparitions in the sky!”

“Uuuhhh… you mean the clouds?” guessed Amethyst.

“Clouds? That’s what they’re called! They even have charming names, it seems! And what about these little organisms?” He pulled out a shriveled brown mushroom from the inside of his cloak.

“That’s a mushroom,” answered Garnet.

“Ah,” the figure said, “This planet is full of wonders! I can see why Pink Diamond faked her own destruction for all of this. Although I would have been more active with what’s happened in the gem war, there there were the conflicts throughout history and-” He paused his fast ramblings when saw the Gems and Steven’s faces of confusion.

“How...do you know about that?” asked Pearl, looking halfway between relieved and ready to explode. “Well, My Diamond told me about it, of course! Can’t go looking for a Gem that no longer exists, after all!” The figure took off his cloak and revealed something alarming.

He was a Gem. He was around the same height as Pearl and was around the same build as well. While their faces were identical down to the same pointed nose, his outfit was the complete opposite. He was dressed in what appeared to be all-black evening wear with white stripes running every which way all over him as if he had been assaulted by a gang of angry paint rollers. His hair, also stark black, was very high on his head with a few strands hanging over his forehead. A solid black gem could be seen on the base of his neck. It looked like…

“Wait…” Steven said, “Are you… a Pearl?”

“That’s right! I am Black Pearl, the current best, albeit only, servant to the magnanimous Black Diamond! He’s very interested in finding the whereabouts of Pink Diamond’s heir so he sent me to look for her, I mean, him. It was rather easy to find you from orbit, given the massive eight-armed stone temple, which I must say has some exquisite architecture! Truly, whatever Bismuth designed that deserves several promotions! Anywho, I hope I have contacted the right person? Otherwise, could you tell me about any other massive stone temples on this planet? And maybe more about those mushrooms!? I-”

“Wait! Wait-Wait-Wait-Wait!” Pearl yelled, now looking like she would definitely explode, “Did you say, _Black_ Diamond?!”

“Oh, right,” the Black Pearl said as his expression changed, “You wouldn’t know about that… Well I’m supposed to find Pink’s ‘Next of Kin’ as it were. Do you know of a… What was the name… Oh yes! A ‘Steven Universe’!”

The four of them, plus an extremely confused Lapis Lazuli, looked at this strange Pearl and wondered just what the heck was going on.

Steven was the first to speak, “You… you’re looking for me?”

“That depends. Are you Steven Universe, or are there more of you?”

“Uh, no that’s me.” He lifted up his shirt to reveal his gemstone. Black Pearl gasped at the sight and ogling it on his hands and knees.

“Oh my word, it’s true! Pink Diamond really did disguise herself as that Rose Quartz by altering her Gem’s orientation on her form! How incredibly fascinating!”

“Um, thanks?” Steven blushed, not sure what to do with that kind of phrase.

“Anyway,” the Black Pearl said with enthusiasm, “You all must the rest of the Crystal Gems who raised him! If you would just follow me!” He then happily walked off in a direction, managing to not trip over his own feet this time.

Steven was about to follow him, but was stopped by Lapis.

“Whoa, guys, what’s going on? What’s this about some new Diamond?” she asked, even more confused than the rest of them, “Did that happen while I was in that mirror?”

“No,” Pearl said, “There are no other Diamonds, just his mother, Blue, Yellow, and White.”

“Than what the heck is this guy talking about? He’s obviously a Gem!”

“Who knows, but we won’t get answers unless we go along with him,” replied Garnet, “Go back to the temple and tell the others we’ll be away for a little bit. We’ll make sure nothing bad happens to Steven while he’s gone.”

Lapis nodded and flew away towards home. The four then nodded to each other and followed the Black Pearl down a path until they came across a solid-black spaceship just barely smaller than the body part-shaped ships often used by the Diamonds. The Black Pearl approached the ship and said, “My Diamond, I have found Steven Universe! … And some of the Crystal Gems.”

The others could not hear the other side of the call, but it was clear that this must have been the supposed Black Diamond.

“Psst, hey Pearl, what do we do if this is just some crazy Gem who wants to fly us into the sun?” whispered Amethyst.

“Then I will commandeer his ship, fling him into space, and let Peridot reverse-engineer this. She’s been bugging me for something to tinker with…”

“Well then!” cheered Black Pearl after hanging up, “Right this way, don’t want to keep My Diamond waiting, after all!”

A door opened up into the ship. The three cautiously stepped inside. The interior of the ship seemed to be similar to Pink Diamond’s own leg-ship, only the area was in various shades of gray and black. The only noticeable color in the area was an insignia on the wall that looked like an edited version of the Diamond Authority’s sigil. They eventually got to a large door. The Black Pearl then placed his hand into it and he looked on ahead. He then turned to the others, “Right this way. My Diamond is looking forward to seeing you!” He then headed inside with the Crystal Gems in tow.

Inside was a large hexagonal room with a black in the floor and ceiling along with panels that gradually transitioned to a light gray towards the middle of the walls. The whole area was lit with a neutral light. In the middle was a large black palanquin, the typical mobile throne used by the Diamonds, decorated only with light gray curtains. Sitting inside was an unknown figure, fully obscured... save for a black gemstone located at the base of its neck. And judging from its shape it was clear that it was a Diamond.

“So...You are Pink Diamond’s ‘heir’?” asked the throned figure in an impossibly deep voice.

“Y-Yeah, that’s me…” stammered Steven. The being then stepped off his throne and out of the black palanquin. They saw his neutral gray skin with a face that resembled a shockingly youthful man. “You’re a bit shorter than I thought you’d be,” This shocked Steven as not only was his voice now less deep, even normal by human standards, but he spoke with a different tone altogether, one far more casual.

As he stood upright, however, his status as a Diamond was made more clear by the fact that he was as gigantic as White Diamond was, making the other Crystal Gems feel like insects by comparison. Unlike her, however, his appearance was rather downplayed with an entirely black suit save for a few splashes of color. A white handkerchief that stood out like mad was kept in his coat pocket. The bright red flower that was kept along with it made it stand out even further. He wore two colored cuff-links on both his wrists, yellow for the left and blue for the right. On one of his fingers was a bright pink signet ring. He also had the same uncanny eyes as the other Diamonds, only his irises were a deep gray to go with the black, diamond shaped pupils.

“My apologies for that introduction, My Pearl has a tendency to fiddle with systems he shouldn’t be around.”

“But your voice sounds so _coool_ like that!” exclaimed Black Pearl from the other room.

“I swear something went wrong when I made him, but then again, he’s quite talented and capable despite being an Off-Color,” Black said to the group. He then looked at Steven again, “Steven Universe, you don’t know what an honor it is to meet you face to face.”

“Thanks!” Steven replied, happy to see that this meeting with a Diamond was going much better than his introduction to White, “So...Who are you?”

“Well, as stated before, I am Black Diamond and I’m quite used to people not recognizing me. I’ve been… absent from Homeworld for the longest time.”

“What happened? Those sticks-in-the-mud get you down?” sneered Amethyst.

“In a crude manner, you could say that. I had other ideas on how to manage Gem-kind’s existence, but I failed to convince the others. So after an… incident, I left,” Black Diamond paused before continuing with two other words, “Self-Exile… I guess they weren’t keen on new ideas since… Well that doesn’t matter anymore.”

Steven was confused by that last bit in his conversation, but Pearl spoke up.“And you expect us to believe all of this? I’ve never heard of a Black Diamond before.”

“Ah,” Black said, “The unowned Pearl, assigned to Pink after she got too attached to her own Pearl in White’s Eyes.”

“H-h-how…?” squirmed Pearl as she blushed harder than she had in years.

“I’ve been keeping tabs on Homeworld, of course, since my exile began. While I further explored the cosmos for new resources to benefit Gems, I also kept my watch on White and how she has, pardon my bluntness, royally screwed up over the ages.”

“You’re not wrong…” mumbled Garnet.

“So, okay, you know everything, but why did you want to see me?” asked Steven.

“I’ve been looking for you since I require your assistance. I’m frankly amazed you could actually get White to change her ways and see reason with Pink’s… departure. There is a grave threat on the horizon and I was looking for you to persuade White to lend me her aid in my cause. As much as it pains me to resume working with someone like her, the situation is too dire for me to resolve it alone. Besides… you changed her a bit, so maybe she could be..”

“My Diamond! We have a situation!” called Black Pearl from outside.

“Pearl, for the last time, the sky is _supposed_ to be blue,” groaned the Diamond, “The atmosphere of this world has a high concentration of water vapor and-”

“No, not that, I’ve gotten used to that! Our sensors just detected all three of the Diamonds heading towards the planet in their personal vessels! What should we do?”

“What?” Steven said.

“Really?” Black said, “Hm… They must have found out about her at this point…”

“Ooh, a mystery Gem! Tell us more!” exclaimed Amethyst.

“All in good time. But for now, Pearl, take our ship and land in the approximate area of White’s projected landing zone. It’s time for a long-overdue reunion.”

“Wait, what!?” Black Pearl was shocked, “With White?! Right now?! Oh, but I have so many things to prepare! I need to have the meeting spot decorated, perhaps with some of those lovely mushrooms I spotted before, and the itinerary must be made to account for the level of debate, and of course there will be their Pearls to account for, so I…”

“Wow, he’s as nuts as you are…” chuckled Amethyst as Pearl’s expense, “Looks like he’s your perfect match!”

“I BEG YOUR PARDON?” shouted Pearl, looking about ready to die from embarrassment as her black colored counterpart kept rambling.

However, as soon as he saw an intimidating gaze from his Diamond, the personal servant stopped speaking immediately, instead, meekly saying, “Y-Yes my Diamond…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Insert the classic DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUUUUN piano sting here*  
> Tune in next time for a Diamond family reunion!


	3. Diamond Family Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lived up to my promise! The Diamonds coming together is up ahead!  
> Also, I have to give it to my co-writer on this one. He really added some excellent dialogue and details to this chapter! With that said, onward to plot!

The three members of the Diamond Authority had arrived on Earth near the Temple. They were patiently awaiting Steven’s return, having been informed by Lapis beforehand that Steven was out and about somewhere. The three then looked to the new Gem-homes that were being built.

“So these are what lodgings on this planet are like?” asked Yellow as she inspected the foundation of a halfway-complete house, “They seem rather… shoddy.”

“I find them rather charming,” commented Blue, having been in an infinitely better mood in recent days, “Plus, it seems they are making the best possible use of their resources just as we would.”

White, on the other hand, was staring past the temple impatiently. It was not like the grand matriarch of the Gem race was used to being left behind. “Well, at the very least, we’re involved with Pink’s life now,” shrugged Yellow, “So that has to count to something.”

“Steven. Remember that she, I mean, he goes by Steven now,” reprimanded Blue.

“‘He?’ Pink decided to change that, too?”

“If that’s was Steven wants, than let it be. I’d rather not lose my family all over again.”

White winced at that last bit. Yellow looked like she had punched in the face. “O-Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“No, you’re absolutely right, Blue. We must be more tolerable of these circumstances unless we want a repeat of this whole mess,” stated White, much to the shock of Blue.

“What is it?”

“It’s just...I can’t remember the last time you agreed with something I said.”

White’s eyes widened at this. She was not _that_ harsh with the two of them, was she?

Suddenly the two heard the sound of an engine and saw a ship in the distance. It was quite familiar to them. Yellow and Blue were both shocked, and if White felt a sensation similar to what a human would describe as having your stomach drop.

It was Black Diamond’s ship, landing next to the shoreline. The ship then opened up to reveal Steven accompanied by none other than the lost Diamond himself.

“Uh, hey guys…” greeted Steven awkwardly, “Look who came to see me. Neat, right?”

The landing got the attention of all the Crystal Gems who stared at the unknown Gem in awe. The Crystal Gems all moved out of the way as Black Diamond approached, taking caution not to accidentally crush anyone underfoot.

“Black Diamond…” White said, contempt in her voice “It’s been a while hasn’t it?”

“Yes. It has,” Black replied, “I see that you are at least attempting some change for once… You’re out of your ship.”

Blue and Yellow were still in shock at seeing the defective Diamond before him. The Crystal Gems, meanwhile, were all slack jawed seeing not only the main Diamond Authority suddenly show up on their doorstep, but a completely new Diamond with them.

Peridot summed it up best, “Okay, I need to ask. JUST _WHAT_ THE HECK IS GOING ON!?!?”

Lapis simply walked inside, muttering how she would take a nap and only wake up once this whole mess was over.

“Um, Pearl, why is there a-” started Bismuth before Pearl gave her a look clearly saying she did not have the answers either.

“I wondered which part of the galaxy you ran off to after your exile,” White said.

“That’s surprising,” Black replied, partial sarcasm in his voice, “Considering you never cared for us defectives back in those days… I assume your sensors picked it up too? The hijacked ships?”

This got White surprised, but she regained her composure, mostly, and said, “Yes… and I assume you also know who this all points too?”

“Correct.”

“You don’t mean…” mumbled Yellow Diamond.

“It can’t be…” panicked Blue Diamond.

“Yes, and as much as it pains me to admit it, we will need to reconvene if we want to eliminate this threat to our empire.”

“Excuse me, _our_ empire?” snarked White, “The last time I checked, you have not provided anything to our cause in countless millennia. What gives you the right to claim any stake in our success?”

“Oh yes, clearly, you’ve been doing a terrific job since I departed. Is that why Pink Diamond essentially went rogue?”

“Please don’t mention that…” mumbled Blue, trying to hold in her tears hearing that.

“That was a single incident!” yelled White.

“Guys!” Steven Piped up. The Diamonds looked to him, “I get that there’s something between you guys, but what are you trying to say!? Who does it point to?”

Black then turned to the Crystal Gems nearby, “Well... some who can do worse than this… White… I still can’t believe the three of you retaliated so cruelly…”

“Well, pardon us if we were unaware about what Pink was doing! We were caught off-guard since there had never been a case of a Gem leading any sort of organized rebellion before!”

“Wait a second, how do you know all of this?” asked Yellow.

“I’ve been intercepting Homeworld’s communications, of course.”

“WHAT?!” shrieked White, “You’ve been spying on us?! How dare you-”

“How dare I what?! Be informed of how you three essentially abused Pink, left her to run a colony unsupervised? And then when she refused to obey your commands, you scolded her to the point of _genuine_ punishment. Then, when she was supposedly shattered, you tried to take out not only the Gem seemingly responsible for the deed, but also thousands of Gems, some of them _your own troops_ , as punishment!? Perhaps YOU should have gone into exile instead!”

It was a long and cold silence that followed Black’s dressing down. Blue was now freely crying and thus almost every Gem on the premises was as well. Even Jasper, though forced into it thanks to Blue’s powers, felt a twinge of guilt hearing about just how horribly her boss was treated.

“Sooooooo....” muttered Steven as he tried to regain control of his emotions, “What were we talking about again?”

“... Someone capable of even worse than what we did,” White Diamond said somberly.

“Red Diamond…” Black added with contempt. Steven picked up on the tension the Diamonds felt upon that name.

“What?! That’s impossible!” exclaimed Yellow.

“But we...she shouldn’t be able to…” fretted Blue.

“Wait a minute! There’s another new Diamond?!” exclaimed Steven, regaining the attention of the massive Gem monarchs.

"New isn't quite correct,” explained White, “Red Diamond was, for lack of a better word, insane. Like Black Diamond here, she was looking to ‘improve’ Gem-kind with unique enhancements provided by other planets. She had a habit of kidnapping organic life-forms from uncolonized worlds and using them to-”

“Augment them, to put it politely,” continued Black, ignoring the glare White was giving him, “Like me, she was willing to look to outside sources for inspiration. Her methods, however, were… horrifying.”

“If Pink brought any organic life around, Red would kidnap them for her experiments! And then gloat to Pink that she did it! Then she would lock herself in her room and cry until either Yellow or I promised to get them back!” remembered Blue, “It was so traumatizing for her.”

“We tried over and over again to discipline, but nothing ever stuck,” added Yellow, “Eventually, we all agreed that she was too unstable to be left to her own devices and deemed her Off-Color. So, we eventually poofed her and launched her gem into space. Our plan was for it to eventually be destroyed by a celestial object, be it a star or a meteorite.”

“And yet, it seems she somehow escaped and reformed,” contemplated White, “With the obvious intent on giving comeuppance for her exile and resuming her unscrupulous ambitions. She’s already claimed hundreds of Gems from several colonies under construction for test subjects and resources.”

“Exactly,” confirmed Black, “She poses an enormous threat to our empire. We must halt all further efforts until Red Diamond is apprehended and, if necessary, shattered.”

"Simply put," Black Pearl whispered, "She's a madman…"

Steven noted the looks of concern, worry, and even fear in the Diamond's faces. "All evidence suggests she's heading here. To Earth…" White Diamond said. All of the Crystal Gems all paled hearing this. As a sense of panic began to permeate the crowd, save for Jasper who was still kicking and struggling in Black Diamond’s hand.

“Okay then, so you obviously want our help,” commented Garnet, hoping to put some of the group at ease.

Yellow agreed. “Yes, as much as we would rather not admit it, we will need every advantage against Red Diamond. Now that you have a respectable number to your forces, we figure it was appropriate to warn you of this threat and lend assistance.”

“Wait, why can’t we just talk to Red and convince her to stop?” asked Steven.

“I tried. Once,” Black Diamond said, “She laughed at the very notion of halting her projects, deluding herself into believing that they were for the good of all Gemkind…”

“Yes, as much as it pains me to admit it,” remorsed Blue, “There’s simply no reasoning with her.”

“But you guys thought White was impossible to talk to, and now your all better!” argued Steven, only to get a grimace from Yellow.

“While she has no doubt improved her behavior in recent times, she still has… reservations about certain aspects,” she said.

“I still have duties to perform in regards to Homeworld’s operation, you know, and while I am capable of many things I cannot just abandon my position!” White argued.

“Really? You seemed content with leaving it to these two for eons…” drawled Black. He rebutted before she could even make a retort, “And while I may not be involved in those proceedings, I don’t deny my flaws either! You’ve been painting yourself as pure perfection for the longest time and frankly it was unbearable to listen to! Come to think of it, it was actually a blessing in disguise in hindsight.”

“Guys!!” Steven got their attention again, “Just how long will it take for Red Diamond to come to Earth?”

“... A while,” Blue answered, “But she’ll find other ways to do as she pleases until she actually arrives. We should all stay alert.”

\---

Miles and miles away from the current meeting of the Diamond Authority, there was an intimidating vessel lazily floating through the cosmos. The enormous red vessel once resembled an ordinary hand and forearm, but has since been modified so many times it was hardly recognizable. Bits and bobs were fused and tacked onto every square foot of the exterior with the only consistency being the color.

The interior looked sickening, a mismatched mixture of different dark shades of red. Many areas looked like the color of blood and all of them were haphazardly thrown together with no rhyme or reason.

Aboard the ship were hundreds of Gems, but ones unlike any previously seen. In fact, if it were not for their signature stone located on their bodies, many would assume they were a random assortment of aliens from all walks of life. Some were humanoid and could pass for unique varieties of Gems, but they were the rarity among the hoard. Some resembled beasts, others plants, still others creatures just barely resembled anything familiar at all. They walked on any number of appendages, some of them were incapable of speech, and a small selection of them were feral almost to the point of mindlessness.

The only clean and remotely sanitary part of the ship was a central laboratory where holographic diagrams of lifeforms of various description illuminated the walls. Shattered gem shards, containers full of entrails in varying states of decay and horrific machines were cluttered around the floor and worktables. In the midst of all this chaos was one enormous figure happily working among the mess. She stood fifty feet tall with a massive crimson overcoat covered in stains and splotches from her work, but she never seemed to notice them. Her gem was located atop her forehead with a sinister red glow...

“My Diamond,” a voice rang out to the figure. The voice came from what looked like a Pearl. This Pearl, however, looked emotionally blank. She wore a simple one piece dress with a belt as if she were dressed for something formal. However her outfit also included accessories befitting a nurse such as a lab coat and an elegant variation of workboots.

“Yes, Pearl? I’m working, so this had better be an emergency.”

“We have had a small disruption in the holding cells. One of your unrulier subjects escaped and began picking fights with the others.”

“Hmpn, I suppose the subject has lives it’s course. Terminate it.”

The Pearl simple nodded expressionless before summoning her weapon from her Gem, a sword with a dark, wavy blade. She then ran out of site.

“A pity,” the Diamond said, “All these experiments are getting stale… however…” She then looked at a monitor showing the planet Earth, “This new planet, it’s full of possibilities. I wonder what new results my projects will yield… upon the surface of this new world…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And at last, the introduction of Red Diamond! What does this unscrupulous new matriarch have in store for Earth? Tune in next time to find out!


	4. Prepare Yourselves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And after a bit of delay, Eternos and I bring you the next installment of our story!

The next day, with news of the potential rogue Diamond attack, the people of Beach City were doing one of two things. The more savvy of the citizens were sticking to business as usual, shopping, hanging out, etc. The others, however, were preparing. Those who were not sticking to the status quo were preparing for an evacuation at anytime. The Crystal Gems were training for a potential attack, any semblance of a threat courtesy of Red Diamond’s forces.

The Diamonds, however, returned to Homeworld so as to not leave their home and other colonies unsupervised. In order to ensure that they would stay up to speed with the events on Earth, though, all four of them left their designated Pearls to watch over the preparations and provide aid wherever necessary. The Diamonds also left some parting gifts such as spare weaponry to better prepare the forces of Earth plus they agreed that Black would stay behind so he could provide a rescue should the Crystal Gems need one.

With so much talk about how formidable this rogue matriarch would be, all of the rebels were put on high alert. Garnet and Pearl more or less became the leaders of the outfit, trying to place everyone in the best position. The most capable fighters were instructed and trained on how to use the modern Homeworld weaponry, though they knew that they might have to resort to a crash course given the limited time.

Steven, naturally, was nervous given the entire situation. A Diamond that was thoroughly insane that would not listen to reason? He honestly hoped that they were exaggerating when it came to her supposed psychosis and there was something they could do to avoid more violence. Even with that on his mind, though, Steven made rounds in order to check on every newly-reformed Crystal Gem and made sure they were handling the news well. Thanks to his presence, many of them were reinvigorated and fired up to defend their home once again.

As he walked around, the young half-Gem also took in the sight of the new neighborhood. Even amidst all this chaos, the efforts that were being put into making these new homes warmed his heart. Suddenly, he bumped into someone, the two tripping over one another.

“Oh, sorry about that!” apologized Steven. “No, it’s alright, I’m still not used to walking around much,” replied the brown-colored Gem that was picking herself up off the ground.

“Hey, you’re Biggs, right? Bismuth’s old friend?”

“Heh, yeah!” Biggs said bashfully in a tone that contradicted her gravelly voice, “I… I wanna thank you for everything you’ve done for me and the rest of the Crystal Gems.”

“Well, it’s no big deal. At least now you don’t have be bubbled all the time.”

“I didn’t mean just that. I meant what you did for Bismuth. I haven’t seen her this happy in such a long time.”

“What do you mean?”

“She used to be so easygoing, but as the war went on she became so aggressive and obsessed with fighting the Diamonds. She would lock herself in her forge for days working...and then one day she didn’t come out.”

“Oooooohhhh…”

“I know what Rose did had nothing to do with you, but frankly I agree she made the right decision. Bismuth was going too far in trying to essentially murder Homeworld Gems for the sake of winning. When I tried talking to her out of it, she started acting so cold and distant. I could tell she resented me for thinking differently than she did.”

“And now she’s better to you?”

“So much better! I don’t know what exactly happened when I was gone, but ever since I’ve been around she’s been so carefree and happy that it’s like that awful argument never happened! I’m sure Bismuth has thanked you already for setting her straight, but I’d like you to personally know how much your effort means to me, Steven.”

“Well,” Steven said, “She really needed a friend to help her out. Especially with what was going on in her head that whole time. She... freaked out a little when I told her some stuff... She kinda screamed into a lava pool.”

“Yeah, she did that in the old days too. It was my favorite way for us to spend time together back then.”

“Really?” Steven said, “That’s so cool… Hey, what did you think of mom? Y’know, as the leader of the Crystal Gems?”

“Rose was… Always there. No matter what, she made sure that everyone was at their best. Honestly, I kind of just fell into this group, but she still took me in. Showed me that there was more to my life than just following orders. She was a friend, but that’s about it for me.”

“Huh. Thanks Biggs,” Steven said, smiling. The off-color Jasper grinned and gave him a thumbs up.

 

Meanwhile, in Pearl’s room within the temple, the various Pearls were each contacting the other members of the Diamond Authority via communication lines.

“My Diamond, you are aware I normally don’t make requests, but I implore you to send more resources!” fretted Yellow Pearl, “Their weaponry here is the definition of archaic and their numbers, while bolstered, are still pitiful compared to Red Diamond’s army of freaks!

“Ugh,” Yellow Diamond said, “We are already stretched thin as it is. You will simply have to make due.”

“My Diamond, I apologize for her rashness, but I agree with her sentiment,” drawled Blue Pearl, “I sincerely doubt that these Crystal Gems will mount much of a fight. Especially considering that some of them are defective.”

“I understand, Pearl,” sympathize Blue Diamond, “But with Red on the loose we’ve had to double-down on colony security and have sent out dozens of scouting vessels to keep an eye on her progress. What we have given is state-of-the-art technology and at the very least you have Pink’s ship which can easily evacuate you all off the planet.”

“We both know she’ll save that for a last resort,” rebutted Yellow Diamond, “But it might be her best option.”

“ _His_ best option, Yellow.”

“Ugh, sorry, that’ll take some getting used to. Any word from Black Diamond?”

“He’s pitching in as well,” piped up Black Pearl, “He’s staying in the observation tower around Earth's orbit in case he needs to intervene.”

“That’s all you know?” asked Yellow.

“My Diamond, he was… Very distracted by the various rooms in this temple. We practically had to drag him out of that defective quartz’s chamber.”

“You shouldn’t say that about Steven’s subjects,” reprimanded Blue.

“There were so many fantabulous wonders in there! I was most intrigued by this green substance clinging to some objects and giving off this uniquely foul odor!”

“I knew Amethyst needed to clean more!” shouted Pearl, listening in on the discussion so as to keep aware of what they’re next move was.

“That is not relevant to this subject,” added White Pearl, stoic as always, “My Diamond is personally overseeing the protection of Homeworld and the most valuable colonies. Leave your personal squabbles out of this.”

“Are you sure?” asked Black Pearl, “Because frankly I could go on all day about the marvelous decor of this room! Although, in my humble opinion, it could use some of that lava from Garnet’s domain. What a contrast it would be!”

“If we could please stay on topic!” shouted Yellow Diamond, “What are Steven’s thoughts on this endeavor?”

“He’s being as chipper as presumably always," Black Pearl said, "All he’s been doing since is keeping the morale up with the Gems here.”

“Some things never change, I see,” remarked Blue Diamond, “He really is identical to Pink in that way. I’m sorry, Pearl, but we’ll have to cut this short. I have other matters to attend to here.”

“That goes the same for me. We’ll be signing off now and check back in once we have checked our defenses or if we have contact with Red’s forces. That will be all.”

And with that, the connections were closed.

The five Pearls each exchanged nervous glances. Even White Pearl, beneath her calm exterior, felt a sense of dread that there was nothing even her magnificent Diamond could do to ease what was to come.

 

At the suburbs of Beach City was a much more chipper crew. Lars Barriga, better known to his entourage as Captain Lars, was showing his crew more of the town. While most would find the sight of a teenage boy with impossibly pink hair and skin unusual, they were barely spared a glance as the people around them prepared to either weather the storm or flee for the nearest city. It was easy considering that they already had an evacuation protocol in place under Mayor Nanefua that was already executed during the diamond attack on the night of Ruby and Sapphire's wedding.

“Captain, is this what humans normally do?” asked Rhodonite, “They all seem rather… panicked.”

“Don’t worry, it’s just some Gem emergency Steven told everyone about.”

“Should we be worried, Captain?” asked Fluorite as she slinked down the sidewalk.

“The second things look bad, we’ll be safe in the ship," Lars told them reassuringly, "I’ve got Steven on speed-dial to let me know if anything comes up."

"Lars is about to tell us his backup plan in case things don't go well for us," said the off-color Sapphire known as Padparadscha. The captain could only chuckle at his smallest crew mate as he found her "late predictions" endlessly amusing. In fact, he had been far more jovial around his alien posse than he had around his own kind for years. Gone was the apathetic teenager bored of his school life and dead-end job at the Big Donut. After returning from his journey through the cosmos, he had a new lease on life as even the most mundane comforts he once took for granted were now truly appreciated.

The elements of Earth were also vastly appreciated by the Off-Colors, the refugees found the freedom of their new home exhilarating. If Pearl were there, she would say that they behaved with the exact level of curiosity, joy, and enthusiasm that Pink did when she first explored the planet under her now iconic alias of Rose Quartz.

The Rutile Twins were the most open with her enthusiasm, openly gawking at everything in sight and happily greeting every single person they met with an enormous smile on both faces on their shared body. Their passion was further exacerbated when they received an old cell phone from Lars so they could photograph the sights and mingle with people through the Internet.

Rhodonite, although she still had the occasional stutter, had her confidence improved by leagues and bounds since her arrival. A literal pain in her neck vanished now that she did not have to constantly look behind her for the next threat and as such, she was merely content with whatever they came across. Even with her considerably lowered stress, she was often the realist of the group who could think rationally alongside her captain. Her outfit changed to reflect this to a more proper attire compared to her original, uneven variation. Her afro was also less wild, looking as if she quite literally let her hair down.

Padparadscha had changed the least of all of them, endlessly optimistic and chipper as she tried to use her predictions to assist the crew. For her little had changed, but to the others she was a welcome source of levity and occasionally helpful with her ability to see things others have overlooked in hindsight.

Fluorite, the mother figure of the group, was as tranquil as always. Any place where she was free to be herself was welcome to her and the transition from a dank cave to an easygoing coast with gorgeous sunrises and gentle breezes suited her just fine. She admitted that the proportions of the two were awkward as her not paying attention could mean blocking off a street or crushing a mailbox. Even still, the six-Gem fusion was even more at peace than before. “This planet is every bit as wonderful as Steven said it would be,” she said in her slow, kind voice.

“You think we should help people with leaving?” asked Rutile’s left half. “Ooh, maybe we can have Fluorite give them rides!” offered her right half.

“Eh, it’s a possibility,” shrugged Lars.

“Captain, should be so r-relaxed about all this?” questioned Rhodonite, “Not that we’re doubting you, but maybe we should stay in the ship until this is all over?”

“How about we head back there once the tour is over? I still have to show you where Sour Cream has his raves!”

 

That day at sunset, Steven was quietly eating dinner after a long day of boosting the confidence of the small Gem army. With him was Lion who was munching on Lion Lickers, his favorite snack. Steven giggled at how messy Lion was eating and provided a much needed distraction from the impending threat.

“You know, one of these days, I’m going to teach you proper manners!”

Lion just raised an eyebrow at him, eliciting laughter from the youngling who knew as well as the feline did that that was never going to happen. The two finished their meal in peace and began to clean up when two gems entered from the outside.

“Oh hey Biggs!” he greeted one of the two gems at the door. The other one was a large, black gem with white streaks all over her with one of them blocking out her right eye. “Who's your friend?”

“This is Snowflake, another close friend of Bismuth’s. I told her about you and she wanted to meet you.”

Steven stood up and moved to greet the new Gem, but Lion began growling at the pair and moved in between them.

“Lion, what gives? These are Crystal Gems, relax!” The feline was undeterred, though, and crouched as if he were ready to pounce. The Gems took a step back from the large savanna cat.

“Sorry guys,” Steven said, “Lion isn’t usually this aggressive.”

“Steven, please call off your pet so we can talk,” requested Biggs, trying to make herself look harmless by holding her hands in front of her face. Snowflake, however, was not as diplomatic and tried grabbing Lion’s mane. The pink cat retaliated by swatting her hand away with deceptive speed and clawing her in the face.

“LION! That was mean! Bad boy! Bad…” His reprimanding was cut short when he caught sight of Snowflake’s injured face. Despite Gems having no blood or organs, she still looked a bit too damaged for comfort.

“Wha-?” He was interrupted once again when Snowflake lashed out with her other hand and belted Steven in the face with a backhanded punch while the other hand cradled her face. Now Lion looked truly angry as he roared and lunged at the dark Gem.

“What in the world is going on in there?!” shouted Pearl from outside. She kicked down the door and, along with Lapis Lazuli and Bismuth following behind her, and caught sight of the cat fight in progress.

“Biggs?! Snowflake!? What are you doing in here?!”

“Bismuth! W-We were just looking to meet Steven… For all he did for us?”

“That’s weird. Garnet just sent you both into town for more supplies ten minutes ago.”

“And yet here you are, empty handed,” finished Lapis now moving to opposite sides of the flustered Gem with Pearl following suit. Bismuth locked the door behind her and stood in front to barricade them in.

“Besides, Lion doesn’t just attack anyone randomly. If he distrusts you, something is seriously wrong,” added Pearl as she drew her spear.

Biggs, much to the confusion of everyone, chuckled to herself. “So you’re smarter than you look. Guess there’s no point for the disguises anymore.”

Then, in what might have been the most surreal thing Steven had ever seen, Biggs and Snowflake both reached a hand under their chin and pulled off their faces as if they were nothing but masks. Then suddenly, their very appearances began to shimmer and fade into light. In their places were two magenta-colored Gems that resembled off-color, much taller Rubies. Both of them had short, cropper hair and were as tall as Pearl, but with a lankier build. Both of them had perfectly circular gemstones with a swirl-pattern on them and both wore grins that made it clear they enjoyed clobbering people for the heck of it.

“You’re coming with us, ‘Son’ of Pink,” one of them said.

“Whether you want to or not,” the other one added.

“OVER MY SHATTERED GEM!” roared Pearl as she leapt at the Gem formerly known as Biggs with the intent to kill. Instead of dodging, the malevolent invader formed her right arm in a razor-sharp blade and parried the strike. She then took out a familiar tool with her left hand…

“That’s… !” Steven began as he knew the weapon too well.

It was a Gem Destabilizer, used exclusively to pacify enemies by disrupting their forms therefore forcing them back into their cores so they could be abducted.

“Steven, run!” shouted Lapis as she unfurled her wings and curled them into fists. She tried punching the magenta Gem into oblivion, but she proved capable of dodging both attackers. When she was not trying to slice them into submission with her blade, she was trying to poof them and render them helpless. To make matters worse, her arm kept changing forms every few seconds. Sometimes it was a common sword, others it was a random assortment of spikes and barbs, and still others it was a blunt instrument made for smashing. The sight was even more disturbing by how her formed changed: her arms literally melted as if it were liquid before reforming again. The Crystal Gems thought it was disgusting, the equivalent of a human mutilating himself to make his own body into weapons.

The other aggressor, meanwhile, was having a tougher time against the efforts of Lion and Bismuth. Between the blacksmith trying to pound her Gem in regardless of the consequences and the feline clawing and biting at her in an effort to protect his master, this one was pushing her body to a different level. Spikes emerged from her body at random intervals to try and impale her attackers, but both of them were one step ahead. It eventually came to the point where she melted her entire body, even her Gem, into a sentient puddle and wrapped herself around Bismuth like a living restraint.

“So weak… So restricted…” she taunted as she reformed her head right next to Bismuth’s face, “Why not surrender yourself? Red Diamond can make you greater than you ever imagined.”

“GET OUTTA MY HOME, YOU FREAK!” she screamed before biting the Gem’s face and finally freeing herself. The insane Gem slunk off her and reformed under Lion instead, sending several spines into his paws and making him roar in pain.

Before the Gem could revel in her brief victory, she was distracted by the bright pink shield that slammed into her face. Her focus was now on Steven, looking halfway between crying and bashing her face as he bared his weapon at her.

“Steven, no! Get away, get help!” demanded Pearl, but that proved her undoing. With her eyes taken off the enemy, the magenta shapeshifter planted an axe blade directly into her chest. Her pain was only cut off by her quickly retreating into her stone, much to everyone’s horror. Lapis yelled as she charged her, but in her rage she completely forgot the Destabilizer in her opponent’s other hand. With one quick jab, arcs of green electricity wracked her body before she too was reduced to a helpless stone.

“Don’t hurt them!” yelled Steven as he ran up to collect the vulnerable cores only to be ensnared by one of the Gems as she turned her arms into cords and wrapped them around his neck.

“Now then, you’re coming with us. Our Diamond is very eager to meet you.” Bismuth and Lion both charged, but the other magenta assailant kept them in place by turning her entire form into a large tripwire that ensnared their feet as they ran past her. Not even allowed to get a word in, Steven was dragged kicking and screaming out of his own house by the insane raider. Once they had successfully left the building, the other Gem released her opponents and fled the scene. Bismuth and Lion just stood in the now empty room dumbstruck by the ambush until a massive horde of Crystal Gems burst in and started asking what had happened.

 

Out in the nearby area, far from any of his friends or family, Steven was now in a bubble courtesy of the two unknown Gem enemies, afraid. “Wh-Where are you taking me?” he asked.

“Ugh, where else?” one of them responded in disgust, “To our temporary base to inform your capture to Red Diamond, of course.”

“Who are you?! Why are you doing this?! What does Red Diamond want with me?!”

“I will answer that,” claimed an eerily familiar voice as a slender being approached them. Once he could make out her features, his stomach turned. It was another Pearl, her face identical to the Pearl he has known for so many years, only colored entirely red and wearing typical nursing attire.

“These two are Spinels, Red Diamond’s ground troops and infiltrators. We are doing this because My Diamond has been eager to meet you, as you have been told by these two. And as for why Red Diamond wants to see you…”

The Pearl gave Steven a smile that made his skin crawl. The kind that comes not from genuine love, but from insanity.

“She wants to study you. She believes that with your unique physiology you can be the greatest breakthrough in her work yet. I can hardly wait myself.”

Steven did a nervous gulp upon hearing this as they made it to a small clearing not far from the woods where he and the Gems first met Black Diamond. Instead of a massive spaceship, though, he was brought into small, asymmetrical pod with no identifiable shape. As the uncanny Pearl left to pilot the strange vessel, the Spinels stayed behind to guard him. The boy tried to communicate with the two, but instead got one of them to pull out a red prism similar to the one found on the moon base. With a twist of the top, it eventually revealed a screen that brought him face to face with Red Diamond herself.

“Greetings, Steven. Looking for a conversation? If so, then you are free to talk to me about anything you wish.”

“W-Why are you doing all this? Why are attacking me friends?”

“Oh-ho, selfless as always! Just like Pink was in a way!,” the mysterious Gem contemplated before continuing, “My spies informed me of you how you spent hours reassuring your servants. Fruitless, but sentimental nonetheless. I can’t wait to further research you to see the physical similarities you and your mother shared! Perhaps a dissection, to start with.”

“D-D-Dissect me?!” Steven said, “Like a lab rat!?!”

“It is alright, young one,” she said in a calming demeanor, which only made her creepier, “You’d be well cared for in a personal facility, one with even better accommodation than that Zoo your mother was given…”

Steven was now very much afraid of this Gem and what she could do to him.

“Pearl,” she said, “Thank you for this gift. I shall send a vessel to retrieve you immediately. Please keep our guest safe from any… far more _unwanted_ visitors…”

“But of course, My Diamond. I will have him and the surrounding area under constant surveillance until we depart.” The Pearl moved to a nearby control panel as Red refocused her gaze on Steven as he tried to keep himself from losing his dinner...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Cue the classic DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUUUUUN!*  
> And now, for the second time, Steven is now being held captive by Diamonds. And this time he doesn't even have alien Phoenix Wright to help him! OH, THE INHUMANITY! Tune in next time for the Crystal Gems


	5. Retaliate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After quite a bit of waiting...we're back with a new chapter! Time for Steven and the Crystal Gems to get out of this mess!

What was formerly a calm night for the Crystal Gems had turned into unrestrained bedlam. With knowledge that not only did Red Diamond have infiltrators capable of disguising themselves as their friends disturbing enough, but they nearly shattered two of their members and made off with Steven in no time flat. Bismuth explained the entire situation to the Gems, plus Lion who was literally licking his wounds from his fight, leaving them all picking their jaws up off the floor.

“Whaaaaaaat!?” yelled Amethyst in pure shock and terror.

“This is simply insane!” screeched Peridot, horrified at the Gems she heard about.

“Everyone, this is no time to panic!” yelled Garnet, “We need to focus on getting Steven back.”

“But what if he’s in space already?” asked one of the more paranoid Gems.

“Then we go to Lars and the Off-Colors and have them fly as many of us into space as possible. Next question.”

“Wait a minute!” Centi said suddenly, “Maybe there’s a chance that he’s still on Earth! We need to track him down!”

“Then we do that instead. We have more than enough Gems here to do both.”

“But what if there’s more of those creeps?! They’ll just get us when we split up!” mentioned another Gem in the crowd.

“Maybe there’s more of them here already!”

“Well how can we tell?! It could be anyone!”

“Why’d you say that, huh?! Maybe _you’re_ one of them!”

“You can’t prove that!”

“I want Rose Quartz here! She’d know what to do!”

“Don’t talk like that!”

“Of course you’d say that, traitor!”

“ALL OF YOU, SHUT UP!” screamed Jasper, of all Gems, as she pushed her way alongside Garnet. “Crying like pebbles isn’t getting us anywhere! Now what we’re going to do is find the clods who did this and pummel them into oblivion!”

“How are we gonna do that? Steven could be here, or in space!”

“We’ve got enough bodies to break us into groups so we can spread ourselves out. Like the war machine said, we’ve got a spaceship to track them down in case they did leave the planet.”

“But...The spies…”

“We make the groups about ten each, big enough so they can get stuff done, but if one’s revealed to be a spy we can overpower them easily.”

“Biggs and Snowflake are still out there. We need to go look for them,” added Bismuth.

“Get the organics to do that. You sent them into town, so they should still be between here and there. We’ve got enough problems here. Any more dumb questions?”

The entire assembly was silent. Some, like Bismuth and Amethyst, were silently fuming at Jasper.

“Then get out there!” she then said, “What are you staring at me for?!” The mass of Gems poured out of the beach house, mostly out of fear that Jasper would start taking her anger out on them if they questioned her. Even still, they were more concerned for Steven’s safety than their own, even if barely.

Eventually, the only ones left besides a sleeping Lion were Jasper and Garnet.

“I’m impressed. That was very productive of you,” complimented the latter. The orange bruiser snorted at her sympathy. She and Garnet did not have the best of relationships.

“Whatever. Let’s just get this done with.”

“I’m surprised your taking the initiative of saving Steven, of all people.”

“Look, I still hate that kid, even more than I hate all of you, but the sooner we get him back the sooner you can all stop moping and I can go back to glaring at all of you in peace. Now get your fused butt out there and help.”

 

Meanwhile, Steven was in a cell. Unlike the cell in Peridot’s old ship, this one had actual solid bars that were study enough to keep in Steven. The energy barrier was there nonetheless, but it seemed to taunt him now.

“Wh-What am I gonna do!?” Steven said in a slight panic, “I can’t let them take me to Red Diamond…!”

“Steven… ? Steven, is that you!?”

At first, as the sound of that voice, Steven believed it to be the Red Pearl, back to check on him, however, after hearing the voice fully…

“P-Pearl!?!” He called out, “Is that you?!”

The reformed Gem stood in her own cell next to his. Unlike him, the problem for her was the barrier as she got a harsh zap for reaching through the bars.

“What are you doing here? Those spiny-Gems grabbed you?”

“Seems so. Apparently they didn’t want any witnesses to the incident. Lapis is here with me too.” She held the gemstone of the Gem in question in her hands as she spoke.

“What are we going to do? That Diamond wants to make me her personal science experiment!”

“I heard. That...other Pearl enlightened me to her plan. If I had a stomach, I would have emptied it thanks to her.”

“What about the other Diamonds? Can’t they help?”

“I’m sure the other Gems are already on their way trying to find us, but I sincerely doubt that the Diamonds will lend a hand here. They have… skewed priorities.”

Steven looked confused at this response, but nonetheless said, “Yeah… Wait, the other Gems will know I’m missing by now. I’m sure they’ll find a way to come and get us!”

“ _That_ I believe. The only question is how fast will they pick up on the trail and if they can be here before we are forced to leave Earth’s surface.”

“And why exactly would you want that?” asked none other than Red Pearl, staring at them from outside the cells. Both of the prisoners glowered at her artificial smile.

“Why? WHY?! Are you sincerely asking me that, you cracked asylum reject?! I spent eons fighting for freedom against brutal dictators! Why would I ever submit to one willingly?!” screamed Pearl as she nearly touched the energy barrier that ran along the bars.

“Because Red Diamond is not a dictator, she is a philanthropist and a visionary looking to improve our kind in ways the old Diamond Authority could only imagine.”

Steven could only be creeped out by this bizarre servant Gem and how as she talked, her smile got more and more… _animated_.

“Red Diamond’s genius was ignored by her colleagues, shamed into exile purely because she chose to break their incessant clinging to outdated standards! And now look where their mighty empire has gone: cost one of their own their lives, forced them to remove another from power, their resources dwindling thanks to endless production, and countless organisms terminated since they refuse to acknowledge diversity! But with Red’s help, we could all be so much better. We could be a race of unique creatures, possessing endless potential for growth and evolution! Isn’t that the philosophy Pink encouraged? To be your own unique individual?”

“No, it’s not! There’s more to it than that!” shouted Steven.

“Really now? Then clarify for me, what was her concept?”

“She wanted a Gem to be whatever they _wanted_ to be, not one someone else makes them! Red Diamond makes Gems the way _she_ wants, she doesn’t ask what everyone thinks! I never asked to do this and neither did Pearl! If you really cared, you’d let us go and let us decide instead of kidnapping us! The other Diamonds may have made mistakes, but at least they’re trying to get better. You could be better too, you know, if you let us go…”

The red-clad Gem paused for a second, then frowned, "But I already am better. I'm perfect. Powerful. I am at my full potential… which is more than what I can say for most Pearls…" Her subtle frown and oddly cheery voice made for a creepy scene that Steven had to witness. She continued, "A lot of Gems believed that the 'rebel Rose Quartz' was taking things too far. But in My Diamond’s own opinion, she did not take it far enough. Luckily, the great Red Diamond shall-"

Her praise was interrupted by a deafening BOOM that shook the walls of the vessel and forced all three of them to their knees. Pearl was the first to speak, "What on Earth was that!?"

“Intruders?” responded Red Pearl to herself as she walked off to man the security systems. The two Spinel Gems from before took her place and watched each of their cells to ensure the captives would not try anything.

“I knew it!” Steven said in confidence.

 

The Spinel guards outside the ship did not have the benefit of having captives to watch to keep their interest. Instead, they had to stand by the front port and keep their eyes out for any innocuous detail that could signal an intruder. This meant many times they left their post to investigate a sudden noise in the forest around them only to find it was a non-threatening organic lifeform and that their searching was a waste of time. At the very least they could impale whatever they found and bring it to Red Diamond in case it was useful to her studies. When one of them left for the umpteenth time, the other magenta Gem had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. What finally got her attention was how after several minutes, her partner did not come back. When she finally did return, she naturally had questions.

“What kept you?” she asked. No response from her partner as she resumed her post.

“What, something out there frighten you?” she taunted with a smirk. The other Gem barely even glanced at her.

“Come on, give me something!”

The other Spinel gave a worryingly large grin and proceeded to tap a point on the back of her neck revealing a blue and orange Jasper.

“What the-?!” Before the other Gem could raise the alarm, the now-revealed Gem summoned her crash helmet and pounded the guard into the pod’s hull so hard that it created a deafening noise heard by everyone inside. Once she was out cold, she signaled for the rest of the cavalry.

“Man, that was priceless! I should’ve got a picture!” laughed Amethyst as she grabbed the other Spinel and dragged her into the forest to join her ambushed double.

“Gotta hand it to the Diamonds, those odd devices really work,” commented Garnet.

“Yeah, yeah, save the schmaltz for later,” Jasper rebutted, “We’ve got to get this rig set up fast before any other guards come by.”

The rig she was referring to was a portable power nullifier that would instantaneously knock out any and all electronic systems on Red Diamond’s pod, making it impossible for it to take off or monitor the prisoners. Although it was a small crystalline prism about the size of Jasper’s hand, it needed time to read the layout of the vessel’s systems and layout before it activated.

“Right!” Amethyst said, getting more serious. After all, she only needed to remind herself that Steven and Pearl were in danger!

As they attached the nullifier to the hull of the ship, they sent the other seventeen Crystal Gems who joined on their rescue operation to search the surrounding forest for any patrol, drone, or scanner that would give away their location and potentially compromise the rescue mission.

 

Inside the ship, Red Pearl watched the entire proceeding with a bored expression as if she were witnessing mediocre entertainment instead of a compromising break-in.

_“How amateurish,”_ she thought to herself, _“If they think we are so vulnerable, they are in for a surprise. My Diamond accounts for_ every _situation.”_  

She activated a hologram monitor and began inputting commands for the pod’s defense systems. A nasty grin appeared as she also turned to watch the expression of the intruders once her commands kicked in. Suddenly, the search party then heard an odd humming noise...

“What’s that noise… ?” one of them asked. However, the question was then answered as dozens of hunting drones began to approach them menacingly. Much like the ship itself, the swarming bots were a chaotic mishmash of shapes, sizes and pointy bits sticking out every angle with the only consistency being their color.

“What the heck!?” Amethyst said in shock.

“We’ve been compromised!” Jasper said, tension in her voice, “Spread out!”

Within seconds it was pure pandemonium as Crystal Gems ran this way and that between the trees and the clearing. Some took the offensive, bringing out their weapons to pulverize any drone that came too close. Others, especially those unfortunate enough to have multiple attackers, were forced on the defensive and ran helter-skelter trying to make the drones crash or shake them off. They could not tell, but now Red Pearl was watching their entire panic like a sports game.

“That nullifier goes off in five minutes! Hold your ground!” ordered Garnet as she smacked two charging drones with her gauntlets. Jasper, armed with her offensive helmet, rammed two more of the odd drones releasing her aggression, yelling with every strike. Suddenly the drones began to behave differently they began to cluster together like a miniature cloud of some sorts. Suddenly, a large number of them fired in unison their energy blasts crossing together into a powerful projectile! Amethyst was barely able to dodge it! But it completely destroyed a tree that was hit instead, leaving only a charred stump and some large, damaged branches.

“I repeat,” she said, “What. The. _Heck!?_ ”

“This can’t be random,” commented Jasper, “Someone’s guiding them!”

“How much longer do we have to take this?!”

“It’s almost fully charged,” answered Garnet, “Just a little bit longer!!”

“Argh!!” was Amethyst’s reaction, “This is TAKING TOO LONG!” She then tried to assault the clumped up drones, but to no avail as it charged up a counterblast brutally hitting the quartz Gem, damaging her form enough to poof her!

Jasper just groaned as she bubbled Amethyst’s stone and sent it to the temple as the remaining troops did their best to avoid her fate.

 

Steven and Pearl were watching the whole thing from a monitor near their cells. Pearl was actually shocked at the applications at the disposal of Red Diamond’s forces. As she ran through escape scenarios in her head while the battle raged on outside, Steven was more worried at the sight of Amethyst being poofed and sent back to the temple by Jasper of all people. It seemed like a losing battle at first. However, just when all hope seemed lost there was a pulse of energy, then suddenly the feed was dead. In fact, ALL of the systems seemed to be shutting down. This included the energy screens keeping the duo imprisoned.

Upon this realization, both Pearl and Steven didn’t waste any time busting through the bars, which were now much weaker. However the moment the two broke out, they were quickly met by the Spinels guarding them. Pear immediately summoned her trusty spear-turned-trident and prepared to spar against the two guards. The two Spinels nodded, then their arms slowly turned into elongated, bladelike appendages and then ran at the two escapees.

Pearl immediately blocked her incoming opponent while Steven leapt above the other one so she ran underneath of him. As the former fought the elongating Gem off, Steven successfully got behind the other one and threw his shield at the back of her head. Unfortunately, she just stretched her neck out of the way to dodge, but the damage was done as he instead tripped up the other Spinel and grabbed Pearl’s hand. The two dashed down the corridor with the magenta Gems in hot pursuit, only stopping when Lapis’ gemstone began glowing. Within a few seconds, she had fully reformed.

“Ugh… What hit me?” she asked woozily. One look at the blood-colored metallic corridor and the maniacal Gems with sword-arms was enough to get her caught up to speed.

“We’ve been captured again, haven’t we?”

“Yep,” replied both her allies.

“Great…”

“And you’ll be back in cells once we’re done with you!” goaded one of the Spinels as she rushed forward ready to stab Lapis. The aquatic Gem, rather than being intimidated, summoned her wings and balled them up into massive watery fists. The poor Spinel barely saw it coming as she was decked by the gigantic hand and sent flying into a wall so hard she poofed.

Before the other could respond, Lapis flew straight at her and uppercut her with enough force to leave an implant in the ceiling.

“I’ve spent enough time trapped,” Lapis said with calm menace, “Maybe you should try it.” She picked up the now unconscious Spinel and flung her at Pearl who quickly acted and impaled the guard on her weapon so she would be confined to her stone.

“Wow Lapis, that was… brutal,” commented Steven, shocked by her methods.

“Eh, it worked. Now let’s get out of here before more of them show up!”

The three then proceeded down another corridor in an attempt to flee, however by some cruel sense of irony, they ended up at the bridge of the ship! And there, standing in front of them, was Red Pearl.

She was looking in front of her trying to see if the screen can be repaired. However, she turned to face the group with a creepy smile adorning her face.

“It seems your group is more than meets the eye, Steven,” she complimented, “Now I truly understand why My Diamond is so eager to study you. To think of all the potential you have…”

“Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. If you want him to be your little science experiment, you have to get through us first,” boasted Lapis as she and Pearl stood between their charge and the demented servant.

“Steven!” shouted Garnet’s voice from down another hallway. Before long, the permafusion joined them along with a grinning Jasper.

“Really? She lets a Pearl fly her ship? This really is backwards…” Jasper muttered to herself, causing Red Pearl to laugh in response.

“Ah yes, the Jasper recently recovered from corruption. Still stuck in Homeworld’s ways despite your time on Earth. How dreadful.”

“Why you little-!”

“Enough,” ordered Garnet, “Let us all go. It’s five-on-one and your ship is completely helpless.”

Once again, the crimson-clad servant laughed in spite of the obvious danger she was in. Even Steven’s saintly patience was starting to be tested by her constant chuckling.

“It seems you all are truly incapable of understanding Red Diamond. She is a visionary with the capability to revolutionize all of Gemkind, yet you are all concerned over petty disputes and egos. Perhaps if Pink Diamond herself were here, she would have a greater appreciation for-”

That was as far as Red Pearl got before the classic Pearl smacked her in the face with her trident with a look of pure, unbridled rage on her face.

“SHUT! UP! Shut your mouth, you maniacal piece of garbage. Rose Quartz is nothing like you!! How DARE you pretend to comprehend her philosophy?! She encouraged every Gem to follow their own passion, not become brainwashed lackies for a crackpot scientist! And if you say one more word otherwise, I will shatter you here and now and then throw your shards into the nearest supernova!” Every word out of her mouth was spoken with such vitriol that it made even Jasper nervous. Her promise to murder the Gem was no exaggeration. Steven was about ready to start trembling.

And yet, even with Pearl’s weapon inches from her face, the red secretary Gem laughed it off.

“Seems you have quite the psychological complex! As amusing as your little outburst was, I must correct you on one statement. I am not brainwashed to serve My Diamond. Every action I make is of my own free will and my desire to assist Red Diamond in reshaping our kind is out of a genuine belief that she is helping the universe.”

“By kidnapping people?” asked a very confused Steven. The Gems also looked at her with perplexed expressions, save for Jasper who was just tired of her monologuing. Another small chuckle came from her before she resumed speaking.

“Still questioning my rationale? Let me add one final note. Red Diamond also has the capability to make a Gem far more powerful than any previously created under the Diamond Authority. And if the Spinels were not enough of an example, let me give you a personal demonstration.”

With that said, the round stone on the small of her back begin glowing with a blinding scarlet light that soon enveloped her body and forced the others to look away or be blinded. As her body was consumed by the light, a dangerously large smile was on her face as she began her metamorphosis. A second set of arms emerged from her waist as her entire body grew to be a head taller than Garnet. Her form was also noticeably more muscular, yet still maintained her physique as the rest of her became more and more alien. An enormous tail emerged from above her legs, easily as thick as Steven’s torso and almost as tall as she was. All four of her arms ended in hands with claws sharp enough to puncture metal with ease. Sharp black lines ran along her entire form as her transformation was finished and she looked upon the Gems with a psychotic grin that made it plainly evident she did not see people in front of her. She saw fresh meat.

Needless to day, the three Crystal Gems present were internally freaking out upon seeing this monstrous form.

Pearl was the first to actually speak, “Wh-What the heck is that thing!?!?”

Steven was actually speechless whereas Lapis simply stared at it, wide-eyed. Garnet was doing a much better job of hiding her shock, but deep down she felt a sense of terror she had not experienced in ages. Jasper, meanwhile, was utterly revolted by the horrid creature before her.

“Ugh,” she said, “That’s disgusting. What kind of Gem lets that happen to them?!” Apparently Red Pearl did not appreciate the comment since the goliath of a Gem dashed towards her with disturbing quickness given her new size. Jasper, however, immediately dodged the assault and proceeded to punch the thing’s face to no effect. Instead the mutated Pearl’s tail slammed into the bruiser hard enough to smash her clean through the wall and nearly into unconsciousness.

“Well, great…” moaned Garnet, not even needing her future vision to see that this was not going to end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now...They've got another problem. Isn't that just the way? Tune in next time for the conclusion of the Crystal Gems vs. Red Pearl.


	6. Face Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now my partner-in-crime and I are back to bring you our newest chapter! Get ready for the Crystal Gems v. Red Pearl!

In most circumstances, outnumbering your enemy meant you had a higher chance of success. There are times, however, when the outvoted had a way to even the playing field. For Red Pearl, that was essentially turning herself into a ten-foot-tall goliath that looked like she could take on an army by herself and still come out smiling.

The four remaining Crystal Gems looked up at the mutated creature, hoping that the remainder of their forces outside could deal with the now small number of drones soon enough to provide assistance. If luck was really on their side, maybe one of the other groups would come to assist them and further bolster their numbers. 

As for now, it was three anxious aliens and one hybrid against the now-monstrous Red Pearl. With Jasper out of the fight for now, Garnet was her first target due to being the most physically intimidating. The four-armed Gem moved with that same underlying agility, punching and swiping with her claws along with trying to slam the fusion with her gargantuan tail. Garnet could only just barely keep up her defense and were it not for her future vision she would have surely lost already.

With their foe distracted for the moment, Pearl tried to formulate a plan but that was proving difficult. She knew for a fact that this… creature was stronger than any of them could handle, but was also intelligent enough to think strategically. They could try fusing, but no doubt the Gem would recognize what they were doing and put a stop to it. Lapis was handicapped due to a lack of available water and Steven, bless his heart, had never even tried to tackle anything like  _ this _ head on. With such limited options, Pearl settled for an old-fashioned sneak attack and hope to land a critical blow while Red Pearl’s focus was on Garnet. The moment she saw an opening, Pearl dashed in and landed a deadly stab with her trident.

Or at least… it would have been deadly to any normal Gem. It barely did any damage to the thing. It  _ did _ seem to sting, though, as Red Pearl cried out in pain only to wheel around and strike at Pearl! She flew back several feet, almost slamming against the wall. Luckily that didn’t do any heavy damage and Pearl was able to slowly stand up. 

With another team member almost down, Lapis decided to step in by unfurling her wings and darting straight for the monster’s midsection with the hopes of toppling her and making her easier to deal with. Right as she was about to hit, though, Red Pearl caught her in two of her hands and began squeezing with all the force she can muster. The aquatic Gem screamed in pain as she felt her gemstone strain from the grip, tears already forming as she could feel hairline fractures forming. Garnet tried to step in, but all that got her was being grabbed by Red Pearl’s tail and slammed into the floor like a ragdoll over and over again until she was seeing stars.

“STOOOOP!” shouted Steven, clearly about to cry himself, “If you want me so bad, come and get me!”

“Steven…?!” yelled Pearl, “Don’t… try to be brave...”

“Get… Out of here…” gasped Lapis as her form began to flicker as her core was cracked.

Their pleas fell on deaf ears as Steven instead brought out his shield and ran straight at the monster. The mutated Pearl grinned, wanting to see more of what this life form was made of, and dropped Lapis before she was fully shattered. 

The two ran at each other with equal velocity, Red Pearl almost leaving dents in the pod’s floor as she ran, and readied both her left hands for a punch. Much to her own surprise, Steven did not try to dodge and instead took the hit. Despite the impact making a shockwave, Steven barely budged and his expression made it clear that this was one of the rare points in his life where he was  _ done.  _ His patience was gone and he was going to make Red Pearl listen to him.

Red Pearl flung him aside, but instead of crashing into the wall he managed to slow down enough to gently on the wall before rocketing off even faster than his first charge and landed the first real blow to the mutant. The sucker punch to the gut made her yowl in pain, much to the amazement of the others.

“Since when could he do that?” asked Pearl, wondering if it was merely all of those Lonely Samurai movies he watched. Garnet, however, thought it was something else. Red Pearl, however, roared and gave a brutal punch to Steven in turn. He couldn’t dodge it, so instead he was just barely able to block it, by conjuring his mother’s shield. Even then the shield actually began to crack a bit upon the initial impact! Red Pearl was about to deal another blow only for Garnet to punch her brutally knocking her back. 

“Steven,” she said, “Are you alright?” (Your turn)

“Y-Yeah…” he responded as his confidence began to falter, “I’ve never seen my shield give like that, though.”

“Just keep focused. Go help Lapis, though, before she gets more damaged.”

Red Pearl was not going to let that happen, though, as she stood over the fallen flyer and readied all of her arms to land a final blow sure to shatter her. Before she could hit, though, she was bowled over by a fiery orange sphere that sent her to the floor.

“That’s for knocking me out, you overgrown clod!” boasted Jasper as she stood in front of the fallen Lapis, clearly itching for a proper fight. Steven, at the same time, was with Lapis as well and used his healing spit on Lapis’ gem.

“J-Jasper?” she asked, clearly stunned as she came to her senses, “Why would you-”

“This isn’t about you. This is about me showing this  _ defect  _ whose boss!”

Red Pearl snarled at that word. She regained her footing and barreled towards her, sending her tail straight at her face.

Jasper summoned her crash helmet as she sped past the incoming appendage and instead jumped on it as it rushed past her, using it as a springboard to get her right into Red Pearl’s face and smash into her stone with as much force as possible. For the first time, Red Pearl looked genuinely hurt as while he stone was still whole it sent waves of pain through her like a shot of raw agony.

“Now get out of here! I’ll break this one myself!” 

“Not going to happen,” rebutted Garnet as she stood alongside Jasper, “But we need to hold her off long enough for Steven to escape.” 

“Are you two insane?!” asked Pearl, “She’s way too much for either of you!”

“Maybe alone, but we’re the best fighters and need to stick together. Steven, take Pearl and Lapis outside and once you do, you go home while they get the other Gems in here so we can have a better chance.”

“Right,” Steven said, as he saw Lapis heal successfully. The two nodded and began to leave. However, Red Pearl was obviously  _ very _ determined. She rushed at Garnet and Jasper, rapidly curving around them and ran headlong in Steven’s direction! The shocked boy summoned his shield again. This time the weapon did not hold and, for the first time, fully broke as the monstrosity crushed him against the wall with all her weight. What’s worse, at least one of the Gems heard a sickening  _ snap _ as his frame hit the wall.

“STEVEN!” shouted everyone but Jasper though even she flinched. Once the boy was visible again, it was pretty clear both his arms were broken from trying to stop the charge with his weapon. Red Pearl did not look even the least bit worried as she stood over him with the same maniacal grin, ready to finish him off. 

“WAIT!” shouted Pearl, “Don’t you need him alive?!”

For once, Red Pearl looked confused as she glanced down at the broken form of Steven.

“Doesn’t Red Diamond want him alive for her… studies? Is she going to get anything out of him like this?!”

The mutated Pearl, despite her current appearance, was still fully aware of what she was doing. While her form did make her nearly-unmatched in combat, such overwhelming power also made her careless and occasionally lose herself in the heat of battle. Looking down at the subject her Diamond coveted, she could tell something was seriously wrong as he was losing consciousness by the second.

“What are you doing?!” whispered Lapis furiously, “We don’t  _ want  _ her to take him!”

“I’m trying to bargain! We obviously can’t win like this, so we should try to outsmart her…”

“WHAT?!” roared Jasper, “I’m not running away from this freakshow! You pebbles may be too weak, but I’m not!”

The orange tank’s outburst was, unfortunately, heard by Red Pearl and gave away their little plot. While the other Pearl was correct and that she needed Steven alive for the best possible results, she could still use the  _ other  _ Gems even if they were in pieces. She then picked up Steven gingerly with her tail as she stared down the other four ready to turn them into shards.

“Well great, now she knows! Thanks a lot!” yelled Lapis only to be cut off by Garnet.

“No time for arguing! We have to get Steven back home before he’s hurt even more! Give her everything you’ve got!”

Seeing the young boy she cared for all these years in the clutches of this abomination was enough to put a fire in Pearl’s eyes and summon her trident again. Garnet and Jasper did the same with their weapons while Lapis brought out her watery fisticuffs.

Red Pearl braced herself once again for combat. Pearl was the first one to strike by shooting out a handful of energy blasts from her trident, but for Red Pearl to dodge all of them easily. Lapis swung with her fists, but all that got her was being blocked and then sent flying by the mutant gem’s tail. Jasper used her spin attack to try and trip the goliath up, but was just kicked away. As Garnet readied her offensive, Steven saw his family being thrown around like ragdolls and decided he was  _ not  _ going to be a hostage anymore.

He quickly summoned a bubble shield around him, forcing him out of Red Pearl’s grip. He could feel his ribs ache from her grip and one of his arms was shot, but even still he refused to yield. 

“Steven, what are you doing?!” exclaimed a worried Pearl, “You’re in no condition to fight!”

“I know, but you guys are getting clobbered like this. At least now you can go all out!”

With that, he turned tail and ran for his life despite his instincts screaming at him to turn back and help his family.

Red Pearl quickly spotted her captive escaping and began stomping after him, only to find herself unable to move. When she turned around, she found Garnet and Jasper gripping her tail and holding her back with all her might.

“You’re not...going to have him!” insisted Garnet.

“Less talking, more pulling!” commanded Jasper.

While she was incapacitated, Lapis took to the air with Pearl held in her arms with her trident pointing straight at Red Pearl’s stone. Lapis flung the slender gem with all her might and sent her catapulting right for her weak spot.

“Tell Red Diamond she’s never getting her hands on Steven, you monster!” she cried as she made her approach. Unfortunately, the Gem turned her head and saw her coming although not fast enough to stop the impact. Pearl’s weapon landed squarely in throat, finally dealing a painful blow to the gem. She roared in pain as Pearl clung to her weapon and twisted it in even deeper. When she was eventually flung off, Garnet was there to catch her as all four of the Crystal Gems made a hasty retreat, only for Red Pearl to quickly rush after them in order to cut off their escape.

“This thing just doesn’t quit!” hollered Lapis as she flew towards the exit.

“Can’t she find someone else on Earth to experiment on?” asked Jasper angrily.

“Not gonna happen!” chastised Garnet and Pearl, clearly offended by her suggestion.

They were all relieved when they finally caught sight of the entrance and were able to breathe the night air once again. The only problem was that Red Pearl followed them outside and was already looking the injured Steven. Unfortunately, she found him as he apparently fell on his broken arm while escaping and only made a hundred feet away from the pod.

“STEVEN! Keep running!” shouted Pearl as her monstrous red counterpart grinned savagely and dashed towards him. Steven had no choice but to summon a bubble shield as Red Pearl tried to grab him. She sent all four of her fists pounding into the shield, the boy inside crying in pain as the shockwaves upset his injuries and pushed his already exhausted body.

“Pearl, we need to fuse now!” commanded Garnet, knowing that Sardonyx could finally give them a chance against this beast.

They forgot that Red Pearl was not as mindless as her demeanor would suggest, however, as she heard every word and stopped her onslaught on Steven to break up their fusing. Just as the two began dancing, the mutated Pearl grabbed Pearl and flung her with all her might. The white Gem flew for literal miles until she landed somewhere in the thicket with a booming crash.

Steven’s heart froze upon that scene, seeing one of his loved ones brutally injured. The pain in his arm suddenly felt inconsequential to the sight of the indomitable Pearl being tossed aside like literal garbage.

Meanwhile, Jasper looked at the scene, and felt something she had never felt for a long time.

_ Fear _ . This thing was not an opponent, it was a monstrosity that could effortlessly tear them apart and the knowledge that  _ this  _ is what Red Diamond saw as the future of her species sickened her to her core. If this were the case, maybe working with the likes of the Crystal Gems really was the better option. 

Red Pearl then turned back to them and gave a different grin, as if to say “ _ Now then, where were we?” _

With her back turned, however, she did not see Steven drop his bubble. She also did not see him summon his shield one more time and put all his remaining energy into a leaping strike. He hoped he could at least make their foe stumble and distract her long enough for the other Gems to get away, but he at least wanted to avoid being nothing more than a tagalong that dragged the others down. Once he started his rush, there was no stopping him as he sped like a bullet towards Red Pearl’s legs. Unfortunately, her reflexes once again bested his as her mammoth tail snapped him upwards under his chin and sent him flying several feet in the air where he landed among the trees with a stomach-turning thud. 

The other Gems did not know much about human anatomy, but they could tell any normal human would be dead instantly due to a broken neck.

Garnet watched Steven fall and once she lost sight of him, all the composure and patience she usually held vanish. Tears ran out from under her glasses, and she summoned her gauntlets with the intent to kill. She ran headlong into the fray, punching like mad and finally making Red Pearl try to block her attacks unless she wanted a nasty bruise. 

However what she didn’t notice, what everyone else DID notice was something that rocked them to their core…

Something… shocking. Something impossible. 

Upon hitting the ground… Steven’s body went  _ poof _ …

_ Leaving his gem behind… _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone else surprised? Part of me still can't believe we did that and I'm one of the writers! Soak in the suspense, readers, because next time things are gonna be fun!


	7. Mother's Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So with Steven poofed for the first time, how will the others handle this? Time to find out!

Silence… 

That was all the unconscious hybrid heard as he slowly opened his eyes. Before him was an empty space around him, a nebula of stardust and asteroids floating in the vacuum of space. Varying shades of pink were around Steven, but outside his immediate surroundings all he saw was black.

Steven groaned slowly waking up foreso, he then became confused by his new location.

“Whoa…” he said, as he seemed to float in an empty space, “Where am I?”

Steven thought about it for a second, “I remember being with the others, we were in a fight against this crazy Gem… thing and- ”

Steven stopped mid-sentence, the memory of what happened returned and made his blood run cold.

“OH MY GOD! Pearl! Garnet! Lapis! Jasper! Oh no… ! I… I gotta find a way back! I-!”

Before he could escalate into full-blown panicking, Steven heard something. A  _ voice _ … but one that sounded truly familiar to him… “ _ Steven? _ ”

“W-W-W-W-What? I-I-Is that-?”

When he turned his head, a ripple in the inky void around him appeared and from that a face he never expected to see again appeared. A kind, matronly face surrounded by a massive head of curly pink hair. She was wearing the white layered dress that she was always seen wearing in every statue or picture commemorating her.

“Rose… I mean Mom… I mean…”

“Hello, Steven. I...understand this isn’t the ideal place for us to meet.”

To say the boy’s feelings were jumbled would be an understatement equal to the universe is sort of big. He honestly had no idea how to feel finally being face to face with what appeared to be his long lost, long dead, mother.

“Mom…” Steven was still in disbelief, “Is… is it really you…?”   
Cautiously Steven reached out to touch Rose. His hand touched her cheek and  _ he actually felt it. _ It really was his mother, and she really was there in front of him.

Overcome with joy, Steven slowly began to break down into tears and hugged her tightly. His mother reciprocated and for several minutes the anomaly of these two seeing each other meant nothing. All it was to them was a chance to  _ finally  _ meet the mother and son they have yearned for. 

After what felt like an eternity, the two finally separated and stared at each other.

“You look so much like your father, you know,” remarked Rose, “You have his eyes, his face, and his sense of humor.”

“Awww…” blushed Steven, “And...you look like...You’re pictures?”

“Heh, yes, I suppose I do. I don’t know how, but I ended up having so many of those.”

“Well, I can’t imagine how many you had when you were Pink Dia-”

And with that word, the comfortable warmth between them fizzled out and died on the spot. Rose could only look down in shame while Steven realized he made a massive faux pas and covered his mouth.

“Yes… I guess there’s no avoiding that,” admitted the former Diamond, “I’m glad you took it so well.”

“Kind of… I mean, it’s still surprising, but it also explained a lot, but some of the other Gems like Sapphire got super angry at it and then-”

“You weren’t the least bit upset with me?”

“Well…” Steven looked down for a second, “At first I was shocked, then worried about what this meant. I mean, a lot of things didn’t make sense with you at the time. Then I learned you were Pink Diamond, and… and how you faked your own shattering and…” Steven paused for a second.   
“Leave it to Pearl to find a clever loophole to those orders…” Rose said, almost to herself, smirking, remembering her last ‘Diamond’ orders to Pearl not to speak of their past.   
“Y-Yeah,” Steven said, “Then Sapphire ran away, and Pearl explained everything further. About how you were inspired by Garnet and- and everything. So… I wasn’t upset, just… surprised… that’s all.” 

Rose looked down at her son, marvelling at how mature he had gotten in the past year, and then began laughing to herself. Although Steven was confused, he started chuckling himself until he was laughing right along with her. Before long, Steven had to break the ice and ask just what they were laughing at.

“I-I think it’s funny...H-How...Horrible of a parent...I would have been…” admitted Rose in between giggles.

This shocked Steven out of the humor-stupor he was in, “What?! What do you-?”

“I-I’m supposed to be an a-adult, right? The adult’s the o-one who takes care of the child, right? But all you’ve done is fix everything I did yourself!”

By this point, her laughter turned to sobs.

“Th-Th-Then that means...I-I must have failed! I’m s-s-supposed to be responsible, b-but all I did was ruin everything and th-then l-left you a-a-and the G-Gems to fix my mistakes! I-I-I-I-”

“Don’t talk like that!” he admonished her, “You did lots of great things too! I wouldn’t be here without you and neither would the Crystal Gems!”

“S-See?! You’re s-still the one t-trying to fix things! All I can do is-”

“-Get over what happened and move on,” he finished, “Mom, I’m not gonna pretend you were perfect. I really wish some things didn’t happen, but they still did and we all got through them.”

Rose’s tears finally stopped as she stared at her son, recognizing that sense of unbreakable spirit. It was the same one that let her press onwards no matter how hard the conflict with the other Diamonds and protect the planet she had come to love. 

“You’re right.”

“Of course I am! I learned it from you!”

 

Meanwhile, in the outside world, Steven’s gem laid there in a pile of his clothes. Garnet was in a blinding rage, attempting to beat down on the rogue Gem before her like there was no tomorrow. It was evident that this rage made the two equally matched, but that didn’t matter to the permafusion. All that mattered to her was beating Red Pearl’s face in along with every twisted experiment that inhumane Diamond ever touched.

Just as the two were deadlocked by their punches colliding with each other, Lapis and Jasper decided to rejoin the fight. The former was eager to put down the monster that hurt her first and closest friend while the latter was eager to pummel the freak of nature that had long since worn out her patience. 

Despite their continued animosity, the two worked surprisingly well in tandem. While Garnet kept the beast occupied, the unlikely duo dealt blow after blow by constantly moving around the clearing. One would attack from above while the other went for the legs, they would move in pincer maneuvers and attack from two different angles, and occasionally they would even use each other as projectiles. The weirdest part was how they did all this without hardly any communication. Whether is was just having a common enemy or just some leftover connection from their time as Malachite was anyone’s guess, but no one could doubt it would finally giving them the advantage over their colossal opponent. 

After a final three-way attack from the Crystal Gems, Red Pearl roared in agony and was forced to revert to her original form. It seems that extended use of this new body combined with all the damage she took was finally enough to exhaust herself. 

“W-What?!” exclaimed Red Pearl, clearly surprised by the transformation herself.

“So, does this mean you’re gonna accept your pounding like a real Gem?” asked Jasper, clearly giddy to finally let out her aggression.

“As much as I enjoyed our little tussle, I am no shape to confront you now. I’ll have to see what new modifications my Diamond can give me to ensure our next encounter is more decisive.”

And with that smugly said, Red Pearl raised both her arms to the sky. Within seconds she was enveloped in a warp stream out of nowhere and disappeared to parts unknown. 

“W-What the heck?!” gasped Lapis Lazuli.

“Oh come on!” shouted Jasper, “First you cheat with some mutant form, then you just  _ run away like a coward?!  _ Who does that?!”

“Gems, we have bigger concerns,” ordered Garnet, “We need to find Steven, Pearl and any of the other Crystal Gems who got lost out here. Hopefully most of them left for the temple or contacted reinforcements like we planned.”

  
  


"..and then White Diamond let us go home, and she helped us fix the corrupted Gems! Well, with some encouraging from me and the other Diamonds, though." 

Rose was shocked by Steven's story at this point. He insisted on telling her how he reformed White Diamond, but she didn't know just how bad things had gotten in her absence from Homeworld. She knew Gems were always seen as disposable, but hearing the stories of Topaz, Lapis Lazuli, and the Off-Colors just made her all the more grateful for trying to create a sanctuary for Gems to protect them from such draconian policies.

“So after all this time, the corrupted Gems are finally fixed. I can’t believe that whole mess is finally over…” said Rose as she and Steven were laying on their backs next to each other while lazily staring out at the void around them. The longer they talked, the more the space around them lightened up until they were now surrounded by a pink-tinted version of space reaching for miles.

“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy,” admitted Steven, “I mean, it was great having so many new faces around, but it was kind of nuts too. I got called Rose more times than I could count.”

Rose nodded weakly, realizing that such  _ would have been  _ the case upon Steven being born.

"And… I gotta say," Steven said, "I've learned to live with the truth."

“I know...It wasn’t easy for me some days. Looking at all the Diamonds did after I was gone, though...Makes part of me wonder if this was the right decision.”

“It could have been worse, though. Everything turned out alright in the end and that’s all that matters.”

“You’re right...Again. I need to stop dwelling on the past so much. I’ve just had a lot of time for self-reflection in here.”

“What I wanna know more about is Black and Red Diamond. How come you never told the others about them?”

“Because I honestly thought they’d never show up again," Rose paused before continuing, "In fact, I barely knew them myself. Black left, and Red was exiled. So I never got a chance to fully know them."

“Oh. That makes sense then." 

“Back in the day, though, I actually liked Red Diamond. She was the only other one who seemed interested in other lifeforms, but…”

“It was to experiment on them, right? Blue Diamond mentioned that earlier.”

“Yes. Not long after that, she was forced into exile and all her current projects were either discarded or forgotten about. It’s still a mystery as to how she escaped to begin with.”

Silence filled the air. Then Steven said, "Well, at least I'm making friends with Black Diamond now! He seems nice too."

Rose laughed a little bit, amused by his endless optimism. “I almost wish I could have known him now. At least now he can find a place with the other Gems now that they aren’t so biased.”

“I hope so...But part of me does wonder something.”

“What’s that?”

“How much are the Diamonds really dedicated to change?”

“Well, they’ve started calling every week to check up on me. According to them, they’ve stopped hunting for Off-Colors and are working towards ending their whole ‘Fusion with other types of Gems is illegal’ stuff.”

“That’s good...But what about expansion?”

“Huh? What expansion?”

“I mean them taking over other worlds like they wanted to do with Earth. Obviously, they are leaving this planet with you, but who’s to say they still aren't taking over planets and making  _ those  _ into colonies?”

“But...They know that’s wrong! They wouldn’t do that anymore!”

“Have they ever  _ said  _ they’ve halted their operations for future colonies? Or are they so focused on Red Diamond that they’ve just stopped for the moment?”

Steven sat up and the realization dawned on him. He never did ask them just what their plans were with him back in the picture. He wanted to believe they would know right from wrong for themselves, but his brief stint as Pink Diamond made it  _ very  _ clear that their morality was extremely different than his.

"I'll… have to ask them later when I get the chance," Steven said, "I mean this is the first time that Gems are changing their tune, right? I mean, we all came so far, but I know we still have a long way to go."

Rose smiled at her son until he suddenly spoke up, "Wait! The fight! I need to talk to the others, I- !"

“Steven, relax! You’re here because your body is severely damaged and you need time to repair yourself.”

“So…" Steven's eyes widened in realization, "I’m in… in my gem?”

“Exactly. I did say I would always be a part of you… though I never imagined we’d actually meet each other face to face like this…”

With that said, Steven’s memory came back to him about his last few minutes in the land of the living. Red Pearl essentially dealt a lethal blow to him, but rather than dying he retreated into his core just as the Crystal Gems do whenever they are too injured. 

“But… They need my help! They can’t fight a monster like that alone She’s gigantic and super strong, but still really smart and who knows what other powers Red Diamond gave her and-?!”

“Steven!” said Rose, raising her voice slightly to get his attention, “You are aware of how long the Crystal Gems have been around, right?”

“Well, yeah, but-”

“And that they’ve tackled greater threats with worse numbers, right?”

“Sure-”

“And you have complete faith in their abilities that no matter what they face, they’ll make it through alright?”

Steven remained quiet for a little while before Rose summoned a guitar, a massive fluorescent pink one that was far taller than Steven, out of the aether.

“Now then, how’d that song about the Crystal Gems you made go again?”

Steven giggled and laughed along with his mother.

“You know how to play the guitar?” he asked.

“Greg taught me a little, but I’m horribly out of practice. Plus, we’ve got lots of time to kill.”

Steven had a warm laughter fill the empty space. The two eventually began to sing...

 

Meanwhile in the real world…

The Gems were back in the temple. Right now they were all in shock, standing around the island in the beach house, staring at a gemstone…

_ Steven's _ gemstone.

Garnet was taking it the best of the bunch, staring at the rock like it would disappear from her gaze if she took her eyes off it for even a second. Deep down, she was wrestling with whether or not she made the right decisions. Going so far as to question whether or not it was a wise idea to bring Steven into the Crystal Gems to begin with, it took all of her focus to avoid splitting up and creating yet another problem for her team.

Pearl, to put it bluntly, was a total wreck. The swordswoman was long gone, crying her eyes out and shouting Gem-obscenities at every conceivable thing she could think of. Red Diamond, her accursed Pearl, her own incompetence, the forest where Steven crashed, the other Diamonds for not stepping in, even the other Crystal Gems for not preventing this whole debacle. None of them took any offense to her words, though, since they all knew it was just her expressing her guilt. Deep down, the Gem was simply praying for Steven to make it through alright and swearing she would break that experiment of Red Diamond’s she called a Pearl.

Jasper was not faring better, she was  _ enraged _ … And very much so. At  _ herself _ . Right now, she was mentally beating herself up at how she froze in fear for a split-second at her opponent. To think that a top-tier warrior like her would ever cower in the face of an opponent spat in the face of everything she ever believed in! And on top of that, the sight of her 'new' Diamond’s gemstone rubbed further salt into the wound. There was no mistaking a stone of that cut, but deep down it irked her to know that Steven and Pink Diamond truly were one in the same. A part of her was honestly hoping the whole thing was an elaborate lie, but now she had no choice but to accept the truth.

Lapis Lazuli was fighting the urge to run outside and fly away. Given how long it took for her to finally accept her place as a Crystal Gem, the aquatic woman was now deeply regretting her life choices once again. Her newfound love of the planet and her care for Steven fought with that same sickening desire to flee for her life and further fueled her self-loathing that had been a problem for her for the longest time.

Bismuth started the operation thinking it was a success, since she managed to find her friends Biggs and Snowflake beforehand. Just as Jasper predicted, they got ambushed by Red Diamond’s spies in town and were thankfully unharmed when she came to find them. When she came back with the good news, she was instead told that Steven almost bit the dust and their enemy wanted to use her friend as a personal guinea pig for genetic experiments. Needless to say, she was planning to spend the rest of the night hammering steel in order to both release her anger and get cracking on fighting this insane monarch.

Peridot was horrified by the sight, yet also intrigued on a scientific level. Her natural inquisitiveness was fascinated by the properties of Steven’s gem and given the fact that he was a completely unique specimen, she could relate with Red Diamond’s desires to test his capabilities. That same link, however, also terrified her as she would never take her pursuits to such an unethical degree. It revolted her in every conceivable way to see how far this Gem was willing to go for knowledge, but she knew how to make those feelings productive. She would soon get to work on tinkering with whatever she could get her hands on in order to build new gadgets in order to ensure this would  _ never  _ happen again.

However,  _ none  _ of them we're prepared to face the true horror that awaited them…

"Guys! What happened!? Where's Steven!?"

… Explaining it to Greg.

Steven's father had burst through the temple house door, with Connie walking right behind him. The two were miles away in the city, evacuating all the civilians while the Gems were fighting Red Diamond's forces. Once they got back, they received a call from Lars that Steven had been returned home. 

The assembly of Gems stared at the two, completely unsure of what to say. Even Pearl stopped her blubbering when she saw the duo.

“Guys, Lars wouldn’t say what happened when we talked to him! What’s going on?” asked Connie frantically, noticing the dead silence of the room. Garnet and Lapis wordlessly moved aside to reveal Steven’s gestone sitting on a pillow on the kitchen island, on top of a small outfit set; Steven's everyday outfit. They both were confused by the sight, only for them both to grasp the truth at the same time. Both of them suddenly felt the urge to throw up not long after. 

“That…” eked Connie, “That...That isn’t…”

“It is. Trust me, I was there,” assured Garnet.

Greg managed to move his foot an inch, the room so quiet every creak of the floorboards could be heard. He took each step slowly, as if barely aware of what he was doing, until he was right in front of the large pink stone. He then reached out and touched it, his eyes finally unable to stop the tears from flowing out and down his face.

“Steven…” he whispered as he picked the stone up and hugged it as more waterworks streamed out, “My baby boy...I’m sorry…”

The others all stared at him, but none dared to interrupt for several minutes. Greg paid them no mind as he devolved into complete hysteria, sobbing his heart out while begging for his only child to live. To see such a normally laid-back and optimistic man break down like this made the Gems feel even worse. Eventually, though, Garnet found the nerve to speak up.

“He will live, I assure you. He’ll need a while to recover, but after that he should reform.”

While this did assuage the man’s worst fears, Greg was still visibly destroyed by what happened. 

“Any idea how long it will take?” asked Connie, hoping for anything to brighten the mood.

“No idea. This...has never happened before.”

“OH REALLY?!” shouted Greg, suddenly incensed beyond belief, “And what happens when he comes back?! That Diamond is going to keep doing this until she catches him! How did this happen!?”

While the newer Crystal Gems were mildly disturbed, those who knew Greg were flabbergasted. It was a rare sight to hear the man raise his voice or even show any negativity at all. To see him snap like this was something none of them could have imagined.

Jasper, being among the more naive members of the group, did not care for his attitude and snapped back.

“Oh, like this is  _ our  _ fault?! We risked all of our necks to get him back from that abomination Red Diamond calls a servant! I don’t need some organic telling me how to do my job!”

Greg then stood up and placed Steven’s gem back on the pillow and started walking towards Jasper until they were inches apart.

“Oh sure, and you did  _ great  _ keeping him safe! For all we know, he might be like this for  _ years! _ He’s a perfectly sweet, innocent child whose practically in a coma right now! Heck, how’d you like it if someone you cared about was all but dead?!”

Jasper, for once, did not have a retort. Greg, however, still had plenty of fire left.

“Oh wait, that’s right, you Gems are disposable! If one of you dies, you’ll just make another one good as new! But the problem is STEVEN ISN’T LIKE THAT! He’s a one-of-a-kind who has done  _ nothing  _ but try to do the right thing for fourteen years and  _ this  _ is what he gets?! You call yourself a fighter?! Make sure he stays in one piece next time!”

“Greg, calm down,” advised Garnet, “I’m sure Steven will survive this-”

“Really! Then why didn’t you stop this from happening in the first place?!”

"Greg…”

“All Rose ever wanted for him was to be a normal kid! Now he may just spend the rest of his life stuck as lifeless rock!”

Pearl then stood up, marched over to the fuming father, and slapped him across the face.

“ _ Shut. Up! _ ”

“Pearl!” exclaimed Garnet.

“How dare you! How dare you think you’re the only one in pain over this?! I’m the one who found him like this.  _ I  _ had to carry him home like this, having to hide it from all the other Crystal Gems in order to make sure they didn’t panic. You may be his father, but Steven’s been my responsibility for almost as long. I watched him grow up from an innocent little kid into a boy who had to shoulder so many problems! I know for a  _ fact  _ that this isn’t what Rose wanted, but it’s what  _ he  _ wanted.”

“You mean to put himself in danger?!” asked a clearly irritated Greg.

“I mean he wanted to  _ protect us! _ All he’s ever dreamed about since he was two is fighting with us to make sure Earth is safe! He would beg me to let him come along on missions for so long…”

“And now this is what happens to him?!”

“Oh, pardon me, Mr. Ambitious! Would you prefer he spend his times running a car wash barely scraping by and-”

“GUYS!” shouted Connie, looking ready to tackle both of them, “STOP IT!! This isn’t what Steven would want!”

The entire assembly stared at her, even the feuding Greg and Pearl.

“Do you really think this is what Steven wants to see? His entire family and all his friends going at each other playing the blame game? I may not be his parent, but I can tell you that’s wrong! He’d be here trying to cheer you up, get you back on your feet, and start looking for ways to get better! He did his darndest today, just like he does every single day since I met him! Steven Universe is a lot of things, but he isn’t a quitter or someone who throws around accusations like this! Even when he does get down on himself, he bounces back knowing the people who love him are there for him. He may be just a rock right now, but he still needs you.”

All of them gawked at her, the youngest girl in the room, and yet somehow she managed to be the most mature of them all. As her eyes resettled on the lifeless stone that was her best friend, though, her own composure started to break.

“Just like I need him...And I know...That standing here screaming at each other...Won’t fix anything…”

With every statement she said, she got closer and closer until she herself was right next to the diamond.

“I have to believe...He’ll be back...Or else I...I…”

“Connie, go ahead and say it,” encouraged Pearl.

“I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT HIM!” she screamed as she fell apart, revealing the scared young girl underneath the maturity she displayed so often. Despite all her resolve and intelligence, she was still a thirteen-year-old who almost lost her closest friend. Pearl, however, did not mind as simply placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Connie, I swear we’ll protect him. Red Diamond will  _ never  _ get near him again. We will do everything in our power to keep him here until he wakes up.”

 

Little did they know Steven was actually having the time of his life with his mother. The uncanny ability to summon objects out of thin air meant that the two now had plenty of opportunities to catch up on fourteen missed years of mother-son bonding. 

"That was so much fun!" The young hybrid said to Rose as they finished playing volleyball on a pink-sand beach. The mother saw the carefree look in her son's eyes, and her heart just melted right there. 

“Oh, Steven, it’s so wonderful to finally get to know you! I always assumed I would just be watching you grow up in here.”

“Well, better late than never!” Steven said happily.

Then, he had a thought, "Hey, mom."

"Hm?" Rose looked at her son. 

"If you yourself or able to patch things up with the other Diamonds," Steven began, "Would you have taken that chance?"

“..........”

“Uh, Mom? You okay?”

“I...would.”

“You don’t sound like it.”

“...........”

“Why not?”

“I never said I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, you did, but you seem really afraid to say it. Why?”

“Because it’s not an easy thing to admit.”

“Admit what?”

“For the longest time...I was convinced the others didn’t care. About me, what I wanted, or what I was supposed to be doing for Homeworld.  _ I  _ wasn’t even sure what I was made for, but I knew they wouldn’t help me figure it out.”

“Whoa…” said Steven, never imagining how cut up she would be.

“But now...I can see how wrong I was. The whole reason they sent that light was to avenge my ‘death.’ Blue especially looked like she would never get over it and Yellow apparently hated herself all this time because of what happened. Even White, deep down, wanted me back…

Steven looked downtrodden at his mother's response. He then thought about it for a second, then spoke.

“I think they’d all love to know you’re still alive. I mean, sure things got rough, but what family doesn’t have that?”

“Family?” asked Rose.

“Yeah, they’re your family! You said so yourself, they all cared about you, but they just didn’t know the right way to show it. They all wanted the best for you and appreciated you for bringing some joy into their lives. Even White Diamond looked forward to how you could bring something different, maybe because she was so strict everywhere else! You may not have been what they wanted then, but now I know they’d want to give you a second chance. Plus, now you could be with Black Diamond and have a big brother looking out for you!”

Rose then closed her eyes as she took in his words, clearly moved by his sentiment, until her entire form began to glow. For only the second time, Steven saw her gemstone reposition itself to reveal the full diamond as a much different form appeared from it. When the light faded, Steven was face to face with his mother’s long-thought dead alter ego Pink Diamond.

"... Thank you Steven," Rose, no, Pink told her son, "I needed to hear that."

"... Anytime," Steven said with his face neutral, but clearly amazed to see his mother like this, "I mean… we both still have a lot of growing up to do, right?" 

Pink nodded, then she seemed to have a thought, saying, "Oh Steven, that reminds me! I know of how you tried to stretch yourself on your birthday to look older."

This made Steven blush with embarrassment, "Oh… heh-heh… you know about that…."

Pink simply giggled lightly, "Well I have something to give you, so to speak. Think of it, as my own late birthday present to you."

“Really?! What is it? A spaceship? I hope it’s a spaceship!”

Pink giggled at her son's energetic behavior, "No-no nothing like that. But, trust me, you'll know what it is when you wake up from your gem."

She gave her son a hug, a warm happy hug that only a mother would ever know how to give her son.

Steven felt happy, contempt, at peace with that hug. Safe, in his mother's arms…

"Steven," Pink said, "It's time to go… everyone's waiting for you."

“Huh? Go? But I feel like I just got here!”

“Trust me, I’m sure this won’t be the only time we meet.

“Okay...I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, Steven. Now get ready, it’s time to wake up.”

 

Meanwhile, in reality…

Time seemed to slow to a crawl without Steven around. Whether it was constantly dodging questions from the throngs of Crystal Gems wondering where the boy had gone off to, the tendency of any of the gems, his father and Connie to check up on his gem multiple times a day, or even how there seemed to be something missing from the space. Without Steven’s vivacious energy and endless goofiness, the temple and the new community surrounding it felt less like a home and more like a ghost town despite the high population.

 

The sun had begun to rise in the horizon. The Crystal Gems, or at least the core members, alongside Greg and Connie were still inside the temple. They didn't get that much sleep. Out of the sheer terror that came from what's happened to Steven. That and the possibility that he might return to physical form at any moment. His gem sat there, placed on his pillow where it was laid along with a small set of Steven's clothes, his normal outfit.

“Man, this is taking forever! Does it really take us this long to regenerate?!” groaned Amethyst as the seconds ticked on.

“Remember that not only is Steven only a Half-Gem, but he’s also never done this before,” reminded Pearl, “For all we know, he could be like this for months…”

“Then can we set up, like, some kinda spy camera so we can watch him on our phones? Then we can just see him wake up from wherever!”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” mused Greg.

“I’m staying because I want to see him okay! And I know you guys all do to!” shouted Connie louder than she intended. Out of all of them, she seemed to be taking the loss the hardest given that she even slept over at the temple to ensure she saw the exact moment he returned.

Suddenly Lapis spoke, "Guys…"

Everyone turned and saw her point in the direction of Steven's gem, they their eyes widened in surprise…

… Steven's gem had begun to glow…

“AAAAH! IT’S HAPPENING!” screamed Pearl, completely unable to contain her excitement. For once, no one bothered to reign her in as the others all watched in amazement as the stone was lifted off its pedestal as a blinding light took shape around it. Steven's clothes began to float alongside it, as if the entity inside were trying to get dressed. A mass of light appeared underneath the clothes, taking the familiar shape of Steven, something everyone easy relieved to see…

However, that ended pretty quickly and the mass of light was still getting bigger, taller for one thing.

“Uh, guys? Is this normal?” wondered Greg with some concern.

“No… But neither is he…” said Garnet, barely understanding what she was seeing herself. As they all continued watching, the clothes forming around appeared too small for his new form, as said form was beginning to stretch the fabric slightly. Then the form widened a bit more as well, getting more athletic, for lack of a better word. Within a few seconds, the sleeves began to tear alongside what looked like broad shoulders…

Everyone watching was now in a bizarre mixture of absolute shock at this growth spurt, but also with a bit of joyous hope that Steven was coming back, just fine. Or, at least, relatively fine. 

Finally, after a full minute the light faded away as the figure slowly descend to the floor.

By the time the light faded there stood someone, possibly in his mid-to-late teens, who looked very familiar to them. This young man had his eyes closed, then he gave off a weak yawn, stretching a bit as if he woke up from a deep sleep. He then opened his eyes…

"Ugh… … huh?" He then sees the other Gems, "Guys…"

Everyone looked in shock at the sound of that voice. It was deep, but otherwise very familiar.

Pearl was the first to speak, "Ste-ven??" 

She looked in doubt, until the figure tried to rush over to her, only to wince a bit. "Man, I feel weird like everything was thrown around an-"

He stopped mid-sentence, after looking down at himself, and was now in shock. Then he began to react, "Wha-What the… ?"

Slowly, he made his way to a nearby mirror stand and saw his reflection.

Steven was much taller now, around Pearl's height. He also looked more fit and strong, his build slightly bigger than that of an pro-swimmer. His clothes were now too small on his ripped frame. His face looked different too as while his nose was still the same only the tip was similar to Pink Diamond's nose. His jaw was as strong as his dad's but his chin ended with a slight point, just like Pink’s. Lastly, his hair was different too. It was still in its shade of dark brown, almost black. However, it was slightly longer, and now it started straight, like his dad's, but becoming wavy almost immediately, forming curls akin to Rose's hair. Lastly, while his gym was still in the same position, it was angled very differently. It was now in the same angle it was for his mother the upside-down diamond angle. His friendly eyes stayed completely the same. "Whoa... " he said to himself, "So this is what she meant."

Steven then turned to see the others, staring at him in shock. 

"Guys?" he said, "...Guys, it's me… Steven." Everyone was speechless. Then Connie walked up to him. She looked at him for a few seconds… she made eye contact during this time, though she had to look up to do so. Even still, tears welled in her eyes and she gave the young man a big and sudden hug. "Steven!" she yelled, "You're okay!!"

“Yeah...I guess I am!” he chuckled, having to force down remarking how weird it was that he was now far taller than the friend he used to be at eye-level with. His new size became even more apparent when his father approached him and he could look him in the eye for the first time.

Instead of focusing on that, though, the father merely embraced Steven in his arms and wept in relief that he was whole once again. The Crystal Gems shared the same sentiment as they all piled on one by one until the teen was surrounded by his family, all of them clearly ecstatic for his sudden recovery.

“Wait a minute! I just noticed something!” exclaimed Peridot, breaking up the emotional scene.

“What is it?” asked Lapis.

“STEVEN HAS A NECK!” 

And sure enough, the group all stared as they realized his neck was far more pronounced than it was with his more childlike body. They all laughed at her outburst, content with the new changes as long as it meant Steven Universe was around once more.

"Wow," Greg said as he then placed his hand top his head, then slid it over to Steven's own head to compare heights, "Talk about having a kid who grew overnight!"

The boy could only chuckle and blush, not used to having his appearance garner so much attention. As his eyes wandered, he noticed Jasper, of all Gems, sitting on the ledge overlooking the main room of the temple.

“She’s been rather adamant about seeing you,” said Garnet, clearly amused as the orange gem moved down the stairs until she was only a foot away from him. She seemed to mostly be staring at his more muscular physique, almost as if intrigued by how he suddenly seemed much more imposing.

“I still don’t get whatever you are,” admitted the bulky bruiser, “But at least now you don’t look so helpless.”

“Uhhhh, thanks?” replied Steven, clearly unsure how to take her words. 

“Oh come on! Can’t you just be happy Steven’s alright?” admonished Lapis, “We all know you were worried about him!”

“Shut it! The only reason I'm here for this is because the war machine dragged me here! Now that this whole mess has been solved, I’m going outside!”

“Wait, Jasper, before you go…” said Steven.

“What?”

“I wanted to say thanks.”

“...Huh?  For what?”

“You may not act like it, but you really helped me out back in Red Diamond’s ship. I’m not sure what would’ve happened without you there to help protect me. It’s nice to know that, even if you can still be really mean, you still try to help.”

He then reached out his hand, hoping Jasper would take it. Instead, though, she simply stared at it until it crossed her mind that Steven was being chummy with her. She did not take kindly to that thought.

“Alright, enough with the sappiness! I’m  _ not  _ your friend, I’m  _ not  _ your helper, and I am definitely  _ not  _ going to stoop to your level! I’m the best Gem to come out of this accursed planet that you seem to love so much, and sure that means I can thrash any weakling in front of me, but that doesn’t mean anything to me! The only reason I helped you was because these clods would never let me hear the end of it if something bad happened to their precious Steven! And the only reason I’ll  _ keep  _ helping you is because I hate that Red Diamond and her abomination of a Pearl even more than you! So keep the warm fuzzies to yourself from now on!”

Then she stormed out, steaming a bit. "Huh," said Lapis in her deadpan tone.

Steven simply gave a small smile on her direction, "She'll like it here on Earth. Eventually…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, Steven now has finally caught up on all the puberty he's been missing! Next time, some lighter material with the population of Beach City!


	8. Growing Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where I would start with some sort of quip or lead-in to the chapter, but honestly I'm just amazed this chapter came out so fast. So...here it is!

The afternoon was bright and cheery, with not a cloud in sight. The residents of Beach City were resuming business as usual now that the evacuation order had been lifted. The humans were helping the newer Crystal Gems understand how their world works while the Gems were repairing any damage caused by the attack from Red Diamond's forces, which while not much were still much appreciated by the townspeople.

 

Speaking of Gems, one in particular was in the middle of a fierce battle back at home. 

"Hgnh, come on...!" 

Steven was desperately trying to fit into his old clothes, despite his now much bigger body unable to do so. He tried digging out the loosest piece of clothing he owned besides his baggy pajamas, the button-up shirt he received for his last birthday. While there was some nostalgia to seeing it again, he was now just frustrated at how it refused to cooperate. 

Suddenly Greg and Amethyst entered through the door holding a few boxes and  _ several  _ shopping bags.

"Hey, Steven," Amethyst called out, "We’re home!"

Steven turned to face them, only for them to just stop, and stare... then laugh.

Steven's shirt only went down half-way and the buttons were straining greatly, with the top two unbuttoned. The boy just grimaced, embarrassed at how something so simple became so difficult.

“Schtu-ball, what are you doing?” asked Greg, “Did you honestly expect those to still fit you?”

“Well… yeah… They always did before!”

“Dude, you’re like twice your height! Even  _ I _ know that’s not how clothes work!” chuckled Amethyst.

Steven then pouted a bit, "That's not funny."

"Heh-heh, sorry son," Greg said, "But hey we came back with something that could help!"

"Yeah!" Amethyst said, "We went around and people in Beach City asked if there was anything they could do to repay you. So when Greg said he needed to get some new clothes for you, everybody pitched in!"

“Aw, that’s so nice of them!” The young man started digging through the bags, looking for something that covered him. He also saw into the boxes too; they were filled with pretty much every article of clothing Greg ever owned in his life, even some of the formal wear that he wore on that trip to Paris. As he dug through the contents, he could not help but wonder what exactly his father dressed like at a younger age. There were one too many jean jackets in the boxes for his liking, but at least it was a start. The bags seemed to fit his style more and with more variety to choose from. He eventually just started laying out outfits all over the floor until inspiration struck. He picked out a white t-shirt with a pink star with a slightly thick, rainbow colored outline printed on it for an undershirt to go with a pink button-up shirt that was actually the right size for him. For his other half he went with a pair of bright blue, almost cyan colored, cropped cargo pants and a pair of pale brown sandals that covered the top of his feet, rather than a pair of flip-flops. He grinned as he ran to the bathroom to get dressed and emerged to find Pearl furiously picking up the mess he created.

“Amethyst!” she scolded, “Could you ever be bothered to pick up after yourself?”

“Hey, it really wasn’t me this time! Honest!” 

“Oh, who did it this time? Bismuth?”

“Pretty sure she’s been in her forge all day.”

“Uh, guys?” spoke Steven, but he was ignored.

“Wait, don’t tell me, Connie is responsible for this, right?” chastised Pearl.

“She’s almost as much of a neat freak as you! She spent like ten minutes cleaning up some mustard I spilled one time…”

“Guys!” tried Steven again, but to no avail.

“Because if you don’t wipe it up, it makes a stain on the floor!”

“Our floors are wood! And plus, Greg’s rich now too!”

“That doesn’t make it acceptable to leave a trail of debris wherever you go!”

“Oh yeah? Is it better than alphabetizing your own mental storage space?”

“Excuse me for making sure I know exactly where my cold fusion reactor is!”

“Wait... What?!” asked Greg, shock plastered on his and Amethyst's faces.

“What? I dabble in all kinds of things, and plus Peridot was curious how it worked.”

"Okay," Steven said, taking full advantage of the silence that finally filled the room, "We might want to keep an eye on you from now on Pearl." He then laughed warmly. 

Everybody looked at his direction and saw Steven, dressed in his new attire. 

“Well, well, well! Looking smooth there, sport!” complimented Greg, almost not believing his son was wearing a different getup.

“My, my, Steven! You look quite dapper! I could almost see sending you to school with Connie in that!” added Pearl, clearly pleased.

“And hey, anything is better than that Pink Diamond outfit,” remarked Amethyst.

“Yeeeeeah… That look definitely wasn’t for me," Steven said sheepishly.

  
  


Now that he was properly clothed, Steven headed outside to find the beach once again bustling with construction as their major addition to the temple was once again underway. Almost the minute he walked outside, he was greeted by dozens of the Crystal Gems who wondered why he had disappeared for quite some time. Needless to say, they were quite surprised to see Steven’s appearance change so suddenly. Some, like those who are only recently uncorrupted, we're confused as to Steven's new appearance, even failing to recognize him at first. Most of these Gems were clearly unaware of how humans age. Others who personally knew him, like Bismuth, we're all shocked at Steven's sudden growth spurt as it were.

The first place Steven went to was one of his favorite places in Beach City, the Big Donut.  When he got there, he opened the doors to find Lars there. From what Steven heard around town, Lars' parents had convinced him to try and go back to his old job in order to obtain some, if any semblance of a normal life every now and then. It worked since technically Lars never quit, he was kidnapped and thus unable to work for several months. Steven knew that the former mayor, Bill Dewey, still worked there himself as Sadie resigned so she could focus more on her band, Sadie Killer and the Suspects. 

Lars, who still retained his more optimistic outlook since returning to Earth, simply stared at Steven in shock at how the boy was now barely shorter than him.

“Hey there, Cap’n Lars! I’ll be takin’ two chocolate donuts to go!” greeted Steven in an intentionally bad pirate voice. 

"Whoa…" Lars said in reaction. However, a part of his head realized that something like this would happen to someone like Steven. It just made more sense to him now, given what he himself went through in the past few months. So instead, he lightly chuckled at Steven's impersonation, immediately recognizing him through it. He then prepared Steven’s order, saying,“Here you go, Steven. Gotta ask though, when did you finally start going through puberty?”

“It’s a long story…” he replied.

“Oh! A new customer!” spoke the former mayor, Dewey from the back room. He soon walked outside to greet what he thought was a new face. Even after seeing Steven for a few good seconds, he still did not catch on.

“Well, welcome to Big Donut, young man!” greeted Bill as he shook Steven’s hand, “You must be one of Lars’ classmates!”

“Bill, it’s Steven. Steven  _ Universe _ ,” Lars pointed out, clearly amused by his confusion.

The ex-mayor then looked at the man he was shaking hands with. Then noticed he did resemble a much older version of the kid whose father ran the local car wash. 

“C-C-C-Car Wash Kid?” he stuttered, now suddenly nervous.

Steven, being a good sport, merely chuckled and replied. “Hey there, Mayo- I mean, Mister Dewey? How’s the weather?”

“... WHAT HAVE THOSE WOMEN BEEN FEEDING YOU?!” he shrieked at the top of his lungs and jumped so high he nearly cleared the counter in one go. 

“Well, well-balanced meals mostly, thanks to Pearl, but there’s also been a lot of donuts soooo…” he answered honestly as Lars doubled over laughing at the situation.

“Oh… uh… I see… Just… Answer me one thing, please…”

“Yes?”

“You’re not…  _ radioactive _ , are you?”

“Well, I do glow occasionally, but that’s usually only when I fuse, but-”

“Okay, I think that’s enough,” interrupted Lars as he pulled Bill away by his shoulders, “Why don’t you just go back to doing inventory and I finish everything up here, okay?”

“Y-Y-Y-Y-Yeah… I can do that…”

With that, an incredibly shaky Bill returned to the back room while Lars rang up his donuts and sent him on his way. As Steven left, he could hear Bill freaking out again, shouting about how he thought he had already seen everything when he saw that Lars suddenly became pink.

After eating his breakfast, Steven strolled through town happily greeting anyone he passed by. While he received many stares and double takes from people due to his new appearance, he still received many thanks for the efforts of the Crystal Gems and congratulations on his recovery. Many of them apparently assumed he was either sick or injured, but he felt no need to correct them and just went on his way. By the time he finally reached his destination, he lost count of how many people he met with.

  
  


Eventually he began to hear rock music. He smiled, the melody sounding a bit familiar to him. He followed the sound to an old warehouse that he remembered trying to help his friend, Sour Cream, set up a concert there some time ago. 

He wandered inside, and sure enough Sadie and her band were there, practicing a new song along with their manager...

“Nicely done, kids!” complimented Greg as the sound died down, “Although Jenny, be sure to stay on the down beat. It lets Buck stay on tempo.”

The pizza-worker turned guitarist gave a thumbs up as the group took five and started to unwind after almost an hour of practice.

Judging from what Steven was looking at, they were all practicing pretty hard with their newest song. Their attention immediately changed, though, when Steven walked in.

“Hey there, young man!” greeted Greg, feigning ignorance, “What brings someone like you to a private rehearsal?”

“Gee, I don’t know, middle-aged former rockstar,” replied Steven as he played along, “I was just moseying about minding my own business, when suddenly I heard someone playing some tunes and so I wandered in!”

“Well, sorry to say, bucko, but this is exclusive for official personnel only! As much as I’d love for you to stay, I’m afraid unless you have a very good reason to be here…”

“Well, maybe you could make an exception for…  _ your only son?” _

With the punchline dropped, the band, who were watching idly, had caught on. Their jaws dropped in unison and gaped as the father and son laughed at their reaction.

“STEVEN?!” they all gasped. 

“Yep!” Steve said in his typical cheerful tone, “It’s me!”

Everyone’s collective jaw dropped again then and there. Even Buck, who was usually expressionless, save for the occasional faint smile, was clearly in shock at the sight about the guy in front of the band who looked to be  _ their age… _ !

“Is…” Sadie began in disbelief, “Is that really you…?”

“Yeah! I...uh, guess puberty finally caught up to me?”

“Man, I know I went through some weird stuff when this happened to me but this is nuts!” joked Sour Cream, rolling with the punches once again.

“And he’s got new duds!” pointed out Jenny, causing the half-Gem to blush.

“Well...yeah…”

“Plus, he’s gotta neck,” stated Buck, “Cool.”

“That’s weird, Peri said the same thing…”

“Well, whatever happened, it’s great to see you back, Steven!” said Sadie, “I heard from Lars that you got hurt by some crazy Gem, but he wouldn’t say how.”

“It’s a long story, guys, but it’s alright now,” amended Greg, “Besides, we have a concert in Reefside in four days! We’ve gotta keep practicing, so why don’t we go over the set one more time before we call it a day?”

With one last goodbye, Steven went on his way back towards the town as the band resumed their rehearsal. 

 

Eventually, Steven made it back into town where he saw another one of his friends, Bismuth.

She seemed to be trying to stop for to reverse-engineer various devices in her room at the temple. Although, knowing her, she would prefer to use her old forge instead. Bismuth saw Steven approach her and was confused for a second until she recognized him. “Oh, uh, Steven! I almost forgot, you look different now!” She then gave out a casual laugh.

“Yeah...So has everyone else I’ve bumped in to. I guess this is still gonna take some getting used to…”

“I know the feeling. Whenever I reformed, I’d get Gems gawking at my new look for days. Trust me, we’ll all get used to it.”

Although she probably never actually has anything other than her outfit, or appearance modifiers as it were, change, Steven still appreciated the sentiment, “Thanks. So, what are you doing out here?”

“I’ve been trying to dabble in technology since it doesn’t seem like we need traditional weapons anymore. Peridot was supposed to come with me, but something about that show she’s obsessed with came up so now I’m here.”

“I can always help you! I’m no tech expert, but I can still point you where to go!”

“Thanks Steven. Y’know, even with all this new tech, nothing beats and old school sword and shield!” Bismuth then seemed to have a thought, “Hey! I just had an idea! You still have that shield of yours, right?”

“Uh, yeah,” Steven looked down at where his gem. It took longer than usual, but his mother’s shield came out looking slightly cracked. In several places. 

“O-Oh…” Steven said, “I guess Red Pearl really did a number on it…”

“Yikes...That’s definitely gonna need to be patched up before you use it again.”

“You can fix this, right?”

“Of course! Or…” she then took the shield in her hands and inspected it with a curious eye.

“Or what?”

“... Come with me for a sec? I wanna try something…”

And with that, Bismuth actually led Steven back to the temple and then warped the two of them to her original forge. As the two headed inside, Steven’s shield still in the blacksmith’s hand, he stared at her handiwork while she immediately started pulling out tools and taking measurements. It was not long before Bismuth quickly got his attention.

“I’ve got it!” she exclaimed, clearly elated, “How’d I never think to do this before?!”

“Do what?”

“Well, I made modifications to Crystal Gem weapons before, but I never thought to try it with Rose’s shield! But now, since it needs repairs already, I bet I can make this even better!”

“Whoa, Really!” Steven had stars in his eyes at the thought of his shield getting an epic upgrade.

After that, Bismuth immediately went to work. She began to carefully take some of the ore from the walls around her for materials. After all, why just repair Rose’s shield…

When she could remake it into something new. 

Bismuth actually sent Steven back home, claiming she would be busy with her newest project. The impressionable young lad, however, was intrigued by how she worked and insisted on staying the whole time. He watched her hands move at lightning speed as she made various parts using the ore and lava and connected them to parts of the shield. It seemed like those parts were being used for more than just a simple shield… Steven was at a loss at what she was doing exactly, but it was still interesting nonetheless. 

A few minutes after welding more parts together, she began to hit the still unidentifiable mess and hit it with her hammer hands. She seemed to be both smiling in anticipation, and in deep focus at what she was doing. Then, finally, there was a circular shape that seemed familiar. “Now for one last touch… Steven!” Bismuth called out, “You have the same healing powers that Rose had, right!?”

Steven perked up, saying, “Yeah! Well sort of… I don’t have Healing  _ Tears _ per se… but I do have something like it.”   
“Well, place some of it on this piece of work right here!” She pointed to the flat, circular piece of equipment she’s been hammering away at for a while… It still didn’t really look like anything, but Steven trusted her.

So, he actually took out his hand, making sure to steady his emotions and spat right into it! he proceeded to place his spitty hand onto the object, much to Bismuth’s confusion.

Then, a second later, the object began to glow in a bright, pink light. “Alright,” Bismuth said, she then took the glowing disc, and dipped it into the lava pool. Then a second later, she took it right out. It was searing hot from the molten rock, but a few seconds later, the flames died down and went out, revealing the end product…

The shield was now slightly bigger, but only barely just. The vine-like spirals now featured less prominent thorns, similar to Amethyst's whip. Also, there was now a star inside the shield, just underneath the original sigil underneath. The outer edge of the shield seemed to be different, it was dull, yet smooth. Overall the shield looked like it could take a bigger beating than the last one it took and STILL come out intact.

The backside of the shield was no longer curved in relation to the front/face, now it seemed to be curving outward, save for a spot in the middle where the handle would supposedly appear, creating a sort of hollow compartment that seemed to rotate independently from the rest of the shield. Plus… there seemed to be something there, a slit section of some kind… 

“Whoa....” Steven said, otherwise speechless.

“Pretty sweet, huh?” Bismuth said, “Here, try it!”

Slowly, Steven took the shield in his hand vanished it back into his gem. He then held out his arm in a defensive manner and summoned the shield again. It felt… right. “Wow,” Steven said in awe, “It feels… like it’s me. It’s awesome!”

“And that’s not the only trick it can do,” Bismuth said in anticipation, “You see that little slot on the backside?” 

“Hm?” Steven indeed saw something just like that, noticing the slit in the backside.

“Try reaching out into it,” Bismuth said, “If you feel something, then just pull it out. It should be easy…”

Curious steven followed her instructions, however, just as his other hand was right over it, he saw that he was already grabbing some glowing handle… Filled with anticipation, Steven pulled the unknown object out…

The glowing object eventually materialized further into a familiar shape… The blade was slightly long, about twenty inches, and straight as an arrow. It was colored pale gray with a pink tint to it. Unlike Rose’s sword, the tip of this one ended in an outward curved point in the middle, rather than the edge. The handle itself was also unique with a dark-pink guard, and a bright yellow hilt. He immediately recognized it as the shade of yellow from the stat on his old t-shirt. At the bottom was a blooming rose also colored dark pink. Overall, the blade was very different in design from his mother’s old sword. It also had the look of being both deadly, and beautiful, like it belongs to a royal knight of the kingdoms of old…

“So…? What do you think?”

The initially speechless Steven slowly looked up to Bismuth… then he said, “This… Is… AMAZING!!!!!!”

The blacksmith immediately lit up at this. “I figured since the Diamonds broke the old one, you’d need something more your style. Plus, no offense, but Rose’s sword was  _ way  _ too big for you even now.”

She then pointed back to the modified shield. “Plus, now you can have it with you anywhere you go, and it doesn’t have a separate scabbard that can get lost.” 

Steven took another look at the new sword and shield he wielded. They felt amazing, like a natural extension of himself. Experimentally, he began to do a few practice swings with his sword. It felt just right to him, it was neither too light, nor too heavy. “It feels great!” Steven said, “It’s almost natural… Like walking or breathing.” 

“Hey,” Bismuth said, “You’re welcome and it looks like we’re back in Bismuth!” Steven laughed at her running gag of hers before another idea came to her, “Hey, Steven, wanna take that sword for a spin?”

“Well, sure, but there isn’t much to use a sword on around here…”

“Oh really? I know a place that could do it!”

An intrigued Steven followed her back to the warp pad and brought them to a canyon that looked vaguely familiar to him. After a short hike and a climb up a rock wall, made infinitely easier thanks to Steven’s floating, they arrived at a cave mostly dominated by a large circular platform raised above the water.

“Hey, I remember this place! This was Mom’s armory!” he exclaimed, before confusion took hold of him, “Wait a minute, I thought Pearl was the only one who knew where this was.”

“Steven, no offense to her, but who do you think made half of the things in here?”

The boy had to admit that was a valid point as Bismuth stepped up the central console and activated it with a press of her hand. A few seconds later, a large cylindrical robot emerged from the center of the room that Steven remembered very clearly. His body immediately tensed up when he laid eyes on it.

“Ah! Bismuth, what are you doing with that thing?!”

“Relax, it’s just one of our old training devices. The Crystal Gems used these all the time to spar.”

“Really?! The last one tried blowing me and Connie up along with a good chunk of the town!”

“Huh, guess that one must’ve been defective…”

Curious, Bismuth approached the stationary robot and opened a panel on the back. After a quick look at the interior, she shut the panel again and faced the still-terrified Steven.

“Well, as far as I can tell, this one’s still good. Come on, this can’t be any worse than fighting Diamonds, right?”

“Y-Yeah...But…”

“Look, I’ll be right here the entire time to make sure nothing goes wrong. Just say you wanna stop, and I’ll shut it off before anything bad happens.”

Even still, the boy looked hesitant.

It took a few seconds before the boy remembered that he was bigger, now. Physically stronger too. And while that did not give Steven  _ much _ comfort, it was still good enough, “A-Alright… I’m ready.”

Bismuth nodded at the young man, then opened the panel back up. With a few seconds of fanangaling in the back, the sparring robot was activated. Steven immediately brought out his new shield in one hand. The robot quickly locked onto him as a target and glowed red as its cannon began shooting fireballs almost as tall as he was.

His flight response took over quickly, though, as he began running in circles scrambling to avoid the onslaught. Much to his own surprise, he found himself able to dodge everything the device threw at him with relative ease as he either jogged past, jumped over, or just deflected everything with this shield.

The robot decided to change tactics and switch to freezing projectiles, identifying that its target was too fast for a direct offensive. It also began switching cannon and moving from its initial position so it could chase Steven to further hampen his mobility. 

“Come on, man! Don’t just run from it! You can fight back!” encouraged Bismuth from the sidelines.

Realizing he was not in the mortal danger he feared and encouraged by his friend’s words, Steven planted his feet and stared down the attacking drone just as it fired another icy blast at him. He pulled out his new blade and, much like its predecessor, it was able to deflect energy blasts. He sent the ice wave off to his side as he began to charge straight at the drone. Sensing its opponent was on the offensive and how the ice element was ineffective, the machine switched to electricity. 

As it sent a blinding yellow ball of lightning his way, Steven merely held his shield upright and took the blast head-on. While he could feel the electricity numb his arm slightly, he was mostly unharmed and continued. Blast after blast zipped past him, but Steven was undeterred and blazed ahead until he was within striking distance. 

Steven readied his blade and swung right at the mouth of the front cannon, slicing through the metal as if it were butter. Realizing it had been damaged, the machine flew towards the back wall of the cavern while Bismuth cheered for his success.

The machine’s eyes began alternating colors between red, blue and yellow as each of its three cannons glowed a different color. With all of its individual elements failing, it had concluded that only a more randomized attack pattern would work. 

The machine then spat out a barrage of energy shots, switching between fire, ice, or electricity all flying in Steven's direction. Steven then held out the shield and expanded it via his powers turning it into a makeshift barrier to weather the barrage. As Bismuth watched with curiosity about what his next move was, Steven placed his blade into the ground and took one massive leap, taking his own shield with him, rising until he nearly touched the cave’s ceiling. As he the robot adjusted its aim, Steven shifted the shield back down to its original size and waited for the moment as he slowly descended. Just as the robot launched an electric blast at him, he threw his shield a la a certain comic-book superhero and met the attack head-on. The projectile ricocheted off the shield and sent straight back at the machine, causing it to spark and sputter Seeing an obvious opening, he took this chance. He slammed into the ground, retrieved his sword and swung it directly at the robot with all his might, cleaving the machine in two with one strike! 

With the machine lying on the floor as a heap of scrap metal, both Bismuth and Steven himself, were very surprised at his newfound skills.

"Whoa..." Steven said, looking at his hands in near shock.

Bismuth also expressed how surprised and impressed she was, 

"Whoa… that was pretty intense. Guess it didn’t matter that I forgot to put it on easy mode…”

The boy stared at the bifurcated machine, then down at his unscathed sword. He then broke into an enormous grin and started jumping for joy.

“That. Was. AWESOME!!!! Man, wait until I tell Pearl this, she’s gonna flip out! Ooh, maybe she has more secret awesome lairs with stuff like this to blow up!”

“Whoa there, champ!” reminded Bismuth, “As impressive as this was, it’s gonna take some time for me to fix this. But I am glad to see I’ve still got the touch when it comes to making a sword that gets the Bismuth done!”

The boy chuckled at her obvious pun before running up to the gem and giving her a hug. While surprised by the gesture, the blacksmith returned it and then informed to Steven to run home while she got to work repairing the training robot.

 

Later, Steven was walking to his dad’s car wash, he was shocked at how much time had passed as the colors of sunset began filling the sky. He saw Garnet over there with Greg as the two were trying at a round of tennis.

And as usual, Greg was getting a bit too exhausted, panting as he tried to keep up with Garnet’s returns. Despite being only half an hour in, the father was looking like he just finished a marathon.

“C-Cant we… try something… a little more… light?” he wheezed, doubled over as he tried easing the burning in his thighs.

“This IS light!” chuckled Garnet as she held the ball in her hand, “If this was hardcore, we’d need a much bigger court.”

“H-H-How big...would that...be?”

“A city block would suffice.” 

The father suddenly felt much better realizing that the situation could be much worse. Before he could question it too much, he and the fusion noticed Steven watching them.

“Hey there...schtu-ball…How’s it...hanging?”

“I hear you’ve been making quite the impression around town,” joked Garnet.

“Yeah, everyone’s just happy I’m okay, though,” Steven said sheepishly, “Anyway, are you okay, Dad? You look like you’re gonna pass out.”

“He’ll be fine. He’s just not used to rich people hobbies.”

“H-Hey! I’ve...gotten there...when it...comes to yoga…” he protested, as much as he could as he poured sweat.

“Doing stretches as you get out of bed doesn’t count, Dad! Oh, but Garnet, you’ve gotta see this!”

Steven revealed his new shield along with the sword it held. While Greg was still preoccupied with his exhaustion, Garnet was visibly impressed.

“Bismuth does it again, I see.”

“How did you know?”

Garnet wordlessly summoned her gauntlets along with their brass knuckle attachments.

“Oh yeeeeeeah…”

“You seem excited for more than that, though.”

“Yeah!” Steven said, “You know that robot I told you was in mom’s old armory, right? Well...”

And with that, Steven launched into a full regaling of his training session with Bismuth involving his new weaponry, and how much easier it was to defeat the robot. Greg was in full disbelief at the whole thing, initially incapable of believing that his son was, capable of inflicting heavy damage on anything bigger than a Cookie Cat. 

“Wow there, Steven…” spoke the father, finally having his breath back, “That’s...really something.”

“Indeed,” agreed Garnet, “Those machines were designed to test our best fighters back in the day. The fact that you did it, and completely totalled it without taking a scratch, shows how far you’ve come.”

“Thanks!” he replied, but then noticed his father rubbing his eyes, “Dad? Are you...crying?”

“MY LITTLE BOY IS ALL GROWN UP!” The teary father then grabbed Steven in a massive hug as he let out the age-old pain that comes with parents watching their kids turn into adults. Stevens and smiled awkwardly, before hugging Greg, only to squeeze a bit too tightly and cause him to feel constricted, "Uh… gak. Schtu-ball… a little breathing room?"

“Oops, sorry! Guess I really don’t know my own strength…” he tapered off awkwardly, before being interrupted by someone calling his name.

“Steven!” He turned around and saw the familiar shape of Lapis Lazuli flying his direction.

“Lapis? What’s up?”

“I’ve been looking for you for the past hour! Where have you been?”

“Fighting a robot,” answered Garnet.

“And yet, that  _ isn’t  _ the weirdest thing I've heard today,” she grumbled, her voice completely flat as she was beside herself.

“Huh? Then what was?” asked Steven.

“Never mind, it’s not important,” she waved off, “I was looking for you because Yellow Diamond’s Pearl warped in looking for you. Apparently all the Diamonds heard about what happened and wanna talk about it...”

“Oh man, then I’ve gotta get home!” Steven then begin to run off to the Temple before he was picked up by Lapis, thinking she could get home faster with a lift. As he flew towards the temple,  Steven began to wonder what the Diamonds wanted to see him for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, and now it's time for something a bit more complex: Talking with the Diamonds! Until next time!


	9. Learning from Mistakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, dear readers, we return to bring the next installment in our story! Between me in school and Eternos with work, we might be a tad slower than before with updates, but worry not! We shall prevail!

The four other members of the Diamond Authority were shocked at both Steven’s new appearance and the story behind it. Their individual Pearls reflected their mood as all four were completely speechless. While both Yellow and Black Pearl were both struggling to contain their shock, Blue and White Pearl shared a look of worry with their perspective Diamonds.

“Well… At the very least, he’s clearly reformed. That’s a definite improvement,” spoke Blue Diamond, breaking the tension and expressing her relief.

“True enough,” agreed Black Diamond, “I suppose we should be grateful his body is capable of regeneration. The worst case scenario would be that he would be indefinitely comatose.”

“But…” muttered Yellow, “I am certain his body did not have the same quantity of mass as it does now. All Gems have a set mass that is impossible to change!”

“Yellow, if Red’s monstrosity of a Pearl is anything, it is an example of how such rules can be defied…”

“Uh, My Diamond?” asked Black Pearl, “Would it be-”

“No, Pearl, you cannot get any adjustments to yourself.”

“But-”

“And especially  _ not  _ the tail. That’s simply barbaric.”

While his assistant sulked at being shot down so fast, getting a few looks of disgust from the rest of the Diamonds in the process, Steven just observed them talk amongst themselves along with Pearl and a now slightly nervous Peridot. 

“This is quite concerning,” Blue said, “Red now knows the location of Earth…”

“She clearly thinks of it as her future playground for her experiments,” Yellow added.

“So, guys, what are we gonna do?” asked Steven, “Can’t you guys just show up with an army and stop Red Diamond?”

“It’s not that simple,” answered White Diamond, “Red is not purely attacking Earth. She is also disrupting activity in several colonies and outposts in multiple galaxies. From what we’ve gathered, she’s spent ages growing her forces in order to have her own fighting force ready for this. Combine this with her unpredictability along with the unique properties of her experimental Gems and we are facing a threat that could potentially disrupt our entire empire.”

“That’s the reason we couldn’t help you, Steven,” admitted Blue, “She was causing chaos somewhere else-”

“-As a diversion to ensure you wouldn’t be able to help Steven,” finished Pearl, causing the monarch to be agitated.

“Either way, it’s apparent that Red is insistent on capturing Steven,” stated Black, “Knowing her, she’ll stop at next to nothing shy of your demise to achieve it.”

Steve’s heart went cold upon hearing this, “My… demise… ?”

“Obviously,” White began, “She sees you as potentially vital aspect of her research. This could make you a danger to those around you if you aren’t careful.”

“White, now’s not the time for pessimism,” admonished Black, “We are all aware of his attachment to this planet, so suggesting he go into exile is  _ not  _ the solution. Trust me, I  _ know  _ from personal experience that that won’t help him.”

Steven was too quick to agree, but the pit in his stomach would not leave.

“Well, if the obvious quandary is his personal safety,” offered Peridot, “Why not send some sort of security team or bodyguards to protect him? Or, better yet, patrol the planet with ships in orbit to act as a defensive measure in case Red Diamond comes around again.”

“Pearl, take note of this,” ordered Yellow Diamond, “I’ll need to... consider these for later.”

Steven was quick to pick up the negative tone on Yellow’s voice. It seems Yellow still remembered what Peridot called her several months ago…

“Is going that far really necessary?” asked Steven.

“I know it seems extreme, but we can’t be too careful,” said Pearl, trying to comfort him, “Red Diamond is insane in every meaning of the word. There’s no telling what she’ll resort to in order to get you.”

“Steven, I deeply sorry for what happened to you,” apologized Blue Diamond, “If it weren’t for that riot on Homeworld I would’ve sent my personal guard to help and-”

“Wait a sec, ‘riot?’ What riot?” interrupted Steven.

Blue seemed to pause for a moment, clearly hesitant. “Well… It seems your ideals have not quite gone over well with some Gems on Homeworld…”

“That’s putting it mildly,” said White Diamond, “When we announced that Off-Colors were no longer outcasts to be destroyed, thousands tried rushing the Gems as they were escorted out of their caverns. You may have made a valid point, Steven, but that does not mean everyone will immediately accept them.”

The boy looked heartbroken hearing this. To think that some Gems were so set in their ways they would attack innocent Off-Colors just because they were different.

“Worry not, all those who assaulted the Gems and our subordinates at the time have been arrested and are awaiting trial. We have ensured that the judge of said trial will give them a guilty verdict for their crimes,” assured Black Diamond.

“And...what’s the punishment for being found guilty?”

“Execution, of course,” answered Yellow, as if it was the most obvious answer ever given.

“WHAT?! You’re gonna shatter them?!”

“Steven, is this not what you wanted?” asked Blue Diamond, “Please don’t get upset! We can show more leniency if you want.”

“Yes! Please! You shouldn’t take Gems’ lives just because they made one mistake! Maybe just...give them some time to think about what they did?”

“Steven…” grumbled White, “With all due respect, this is not how things are done with our legal system. There are procedures to follow and, with your long absence, I find your input is unmerited.”

“Oh yes, fall back on the whole ‘This is how things have  _ always  _ been done’ excuse,” mocked Black, “ _ Clearly  _ it has worked wonders for you in the past, so why not perpetuate it even when a better alternative has been presented?”

With that jab at her, White decided she needed a break from their conversation and briefly switched off.

“She’ll be back,” assured Blue, “Her temper is still leagues above where it was.”

Steven, meanwhile, felt unbelievably awkward about the whole affair. It was one thing to just speak to recently-reformed dictators, but suddenly being thrust into a conversation about politics with them? He felt very grateful that neither his father nor the Gems got him involved in Earth politics.

Amd with that, the mood in the room became more depressed. Steven then spoke up again, this time more hesitant, “C-Could you at least take it easy on them?”

The other two Homeworld Diamonds looked at Steven for a second, then Yellow said, “We’ll see what we can do."

This brought  _ some  _ hope to the now-teen hybrid. So he decided to change the subject, "So… is there anything that Red might have left behind?"

"Not that we are aware of," replied Yellow.

"Still," Blue added, "It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye open, Steven."

“Trying to follow her travels would be as easy trying to follow a single speck of stardust.”

“Well, she has to have some kind of base of operations,” spoke Pearl, “She’d need one to conduct those twisted experiments of hers since she strikes as the type to do all of her work personally.”

“You’re quite right on that one,” agreed Black Diamond, “She’s an egomaniac of the highest order. She honestly sees herself as some blessing on the universe whose genius is merely ignored by us uninformed peons. The real issue is finding said laboratory since, while conceited to the nth degree, she is also obscenely resourceful.”

“Meaning… a cloaking device?” asked Steven.

“Undoubtedly, but for her that would only be one layer of defense. She’s already shown a proficiency for delaying our search for her with diversionary attacks. Not helping our case is that during these attacks, she’s been abducting any gem her troops can get their hands on for further research purposes."

"Indeed," added Yellow, "We had to increase all primary security measures at each of the gem colony planets, especially at their Kindergartens."

This filled Steven with some worry, until Black spoke up, "However, this will pass in time. We’ve had threats such as this before and we take every measure we can to ensure the safety of subjects. And you should know that, despite all the turmoil, you have benefitted many lives. Every single Off-Color went from a refugee to a welcomed citizen overnight and every one of them sing praises of the Diamond who allowed them to live a proper life. Steven, we will overcome this and we will continue to implement these changes of yours for a better society.”

“He is right, you know,” added Yellow with a genuine smile on her face, “I must say, being able to operate with far less scrutiny is refreshing. I can see the difference in the eyes of Gems every day. That underlying fear that we would destroy them for the smallest impurity is gone, and I myself feel like a weight has been lifted from me. That relief is thanks to you, Steven.”

“And I can’t tell you how much having you around has meant to me,” said Blue, clearly trying to rein in her emotions, “I spent so long in mourning that it consumed me. But now, even if Pink Diamond is gone, I know the truth of what happened. You brought me closure and now I can move on. I can finally focus on being the leader I should have been for all these years. Plus, even with all the disputes we have, we all agree that having you in our lives has been a blessing!”

Stevens heart begin to fill with joy from what the diamonds have told him. He smiled and replied, "Thanks, guys. Steven out." And with that, the Diamond Communication channel was closed.

  
  


Steven however wanted to make sure that Beach City would stay protected, so he went to visit one of his friends. Someone who was well-versed with suspicions and conspiracies…

After a lengthy walk, Steven arrived at Ronaldo's hideout in the lighthouse. He knocked on the door and was quickly met with an annoyed reply. “What, what is it? What do you want?"

"Ronaldo," Steven called out, "It's me, Steven!"

"Steven… ? No, that's not possible! You don't sound like him!"

"Look, I'll explain later, just please open the door! It's about the attack a while back."

There were a few moments of brief silence then, the door opened slightly. Ronaldo looked out cautiously confused, "Who are you?"

"I told you, it's me, Steven…"

Ronaldo looked at him in disbelief, "Nice try. Tell me something only Steven would know."

“Pearl punched you in the face, back when you thought I was a Sneeple person… thing…”

“… … STEVEN?!?!”

“Yeah…?”

“Quick, how many canned beans did you eat in the past two weeks?!”

“Huh? None… Look, I needed to talk to you about that-" however, Steven could not finish his sentence as Ronaldo immediately grabbed him and pulled him inside. Once inside Ronaldo began to examine Steven, complete disbelief was written all over his face. 

“Well, you don’t have any multicolored ooze dripping from anything so that’s good, but there’s a million things that could have caused this! We’ll need to check your bloodstream for magnetic radiation waves, do a thermal scan for any extraterrestrial growth hormones, and most of all, we’ll need to examine that neck of yours!”

“Why does everyone keep focusing on that?!” Steven said, now genuinely annoyed.

“Because it’s the focal point of your new appearance, so it must be where any parasites are spreading cybernetic components through your body! Don’t worry, I’ve got some buddies online who specialize in this stuff so-”

“Ronaldo! I’m still me, okay? Plus, I can tell you exactly how I got like this.”

“Oh really?! Do tell, this could be a featured article on Keep Beach City Weird!”

And so, Steven told an abridged version of his first encounter with Red Diamond and how he ended up poofing thanks to a brutal injury delivered by a mutated Red Pearl. All the while, Ronaldo furiously took notes and even asked some questions in order to get more insight to the story. The boy was not sure if he wanted to be spotlighted on a blog focusing on pseudoscience, but at the very least Ronaldo stopped poking and prodding him.

"... And, that it," Steven concluded.

"Amazing," Ronaldo said, he then, unfortunately, began to examine Steven again, "I suppose your body had to adapt for any future forms of physical confrontation. Especially with the strong athletic build you now possess. It seems that-"

"Ronaldo!" Steven said, interrupting him, "Would you calm down for five minutes?"

Ronaldo simply felt a bit embarrassed. "Thank you. Now, I need your help with something. I need you and your observation skills from here in this lighthouse. I have a feeling that the attack from last night wasn't the last we heard from Red Diamond…"

“OH! I get it! You want more intel in case that alien attacks again!”

“Exactly! Did you see anything suspicious that night?”

“Well, I could tell you, but why do that when I can show you!”

Much to his surprise, Steven soon found himself in front of a laptop surrounded by multiple cameras and recording equipment.

“You mean you have footage of it?!”

“Of course! The whole point of my blog is exposing the truth about the supernatural, and what’s more definitive proof than live video!?”

As Steven begin to worry about what someone like this could do with this form of surveillance, Ronaldo quickly got to work finding the recording from the night of the attack. He plugged one of the many digital cameras into his laptop and began searching through the footage for any signs of the bizarre and unearthly. For once, it did not take him long as he soon spotted a red spacecraft hovering over Beach City and detaching a piece of itself from the main body. 

“That’s it! That must be Red Diamond’s ship!” exclaimed Steven, thrilled that his hunch had paid off.

“Definitely not anything I’ve ever seen before...Although, I personally imagined alien ships to be more streamlined than that thing.”

“Did your other cameras pick up anything else?”

“I’ll need to do a more extensive search to be sure, but it's going to take some time."

Steven faltered for a second, but was happy nonetheless, "It's okay Ronaldo, it's still good news, thanks!"

Ronaldo proudly smiled as he saw Steven out before getting ready for a long session of extrapolating the truth from his trusty cameras.

  
  


Meanwhile, in an unknown region of space…

Red Diamond, by all accounts, should have been furious. Not only did the irreplaceable Gem-organic hybrid slip away, it had resulted in one of her pods being severely damaged and her highest-ranking subordinate being ganged up on by the boy’s allies.

Instead, though, the rogue matriarch was as eager as always. To lesser minds these may have been setbacks, but to her enlightened self this was merely a sign. A learning experience from which she could improve herself and grow even stronger. If her pod’s defense systems were insufficient, they could be shored up. If Red Pearl’s augmentations were not up to snuff, they could be improved upon. And, if those Crystal Gems went to such lengths to retrieve him, she knew they valued him greatly. All the more reason to continue her work for the sake of Gem-kind!

There was one person, however, who was far less optimistic. Red Pearl considered herself an utter failure and at one point even contemplated leaving the warp stream to float around in space. What good was a servant who failed to do as explicitly told? When she arrived back on the Diamond’s personal frigate, though, she was surprised to find her master was as content as could be. 

Even still, a wave of self-loathing would overcome the Pearl and she would wonder what she could possibly do to redeem herself. As she accompanied her Diamond one of the cell-blocks, she decided to address the topic directly.

“My Diamond,” she asked tentatively, “I am aware that you claimed that my...failure was not a setback but-”

“You still doubt yourself, correct?” replied the Diamond.

“Y-Yes, exactly. Now, I never doubt your intellect, but even with your reassurance I can’t shake this sense of inadequacy.”

“Pearl…What have I told you about science? Where does it lead?”

“Well, there is no set endpoint, My Diamond. It’s a never ending stream of discoveries that ultimately keeps going no matter how long you work at it.”

“Precisely. Now, you know I take great care in the work I do with improving Gems...”

She gestured to the cells around her, showing the wide variety of modifications she gave to her subjects. 

“What do all of these Gems have in common, Pearl?”

“They’ve all been made better by your work?”

“Flattering, maybe, but incorrect. They are all  _ different _ , Pearl. Some much closer than others, but even two of my Spinels have something that sets them apart. And my past experiments were different still, although much less refined as a whole.”

“So...What you’re saying is that there are  _ always _ new discoveries to be made?”

“Absolutely! If I were to stop my work every time I hit a setback, I wouldn’t have found ways to alter minds or give Gems extra limbs or even create several of them from the ground up! But even still, I know there is no endpoint. There will always be some greater achievement to be had, some new innovation that can be found. To others it is a futile effort, but why not see the lengths you can reach as an ageless being?”

The Pearl was moved to tears by her master’s words. “Your devotion is incredible, My Diamond! And soon, your labor will change the universe!”

“Yes it will, Pearl. Now then, are you ready to be worked on yourself? I have already devised several ways to enhance your power further so that Steven’s comrades will be no match for you.”

“Of course, My Diamond! Your modifications are like miracles!”

The Diamond smiled, though not nearly as earnestly as her right hand-Gem. While her faith in her was comforting, it was to be expected out of a Gem she made with the sole purpose being her undying servant. If she was ever truly shattered, she had hundreds of them prepared to replace her. The most wonderful part was they were so subservient and so devout in their service to her was even if they learned this fact, they would still consider her a goddess brought to life. Just another reminder of her brilliance.

 

Back on Earth, after the meeting with the Diamond Authority, Steven was at one of the shorelines at the city with Connie sitting by his side. Periodically, she would keep glancing at Steven, as if to check if he was still there, or more likely, if it really was still him. Steven noticed this and gave her an awkward look that clearly said  _ why? _

“Sorry,” Connie said, picking up his expression, “It’s just, this new body you have, it’s gonna take some getting used to.”

Steven laughed softly, “I guess you’re right, I did a training session with Bismuth earlier. Hey, do you remember that berserk gem robot we faced a while back?”

“How could I forget? That thing trashed the movie theater and nearly blasted us to bits!”

“Yeah, well your not gonna believe this…”

Steven then gleefully retold the recent battle he had against what he now knew was a Crystal Gem training device. Her jaw dropped as he recounted how he swallowed his fear and literally cut the robot clean in two with a single strike.

“Whoa…” Connie said, otherwise speechless.

“I know, right?” Steven said, placing a hand on his flexed bicep, “I feel like I don’t know my own strength now.”

While she was clearly impressed, he could see her head start to dip in sadness.

“What’s up? I’m totally fine, see?”

“Yeah, and I’m grateful for that but… How did this all happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“It feels like just yesterday we just met. You were some goofy kid on a bike who lived in beach house, I was some reclusive girl who spent all day reading books. Now we’ve been to space, faced evil over and over again, and now hearing all this seems completely normal. Where did the time go?”

Steven realized she had a point. They could not have met more than a year or two ago and yet their entire world was completely different. 

“And now… I can’t help but feel like I’ve fallen behind…” continued Connie.

“What?! That’s not true! You’ve had more swordtraining than me! You’re still way smarter than me! And-”

“I’m the one who had to be rescued from Aquamarine and Topaz. I’m the one who got you in trouble with the Diamonds at that stupid party. And there’s no way I could’ve stopped something like that robot by myself. Face it, Steven, you’ve just surpassed me.”

The boy refused to take her self-loathing sitting down, though, and took her by the hand. He motioned her to look upwards at the ocean sky.

“Somewhere out there, Red Diamond’s after me. If it weren’t for Garnet, Lapis and Jasper, I’d probably be in some lab right now.”

“Steven, I don’t want to think about that…”

“Neither do I, but this is important! Right now, I need everyone I can to help make sure she gets stopped and that  _ includes you _ . Maybe you haven’t gotten a chance yet, but I know you’ll be a major help against whatever freaky Gem she sends next! You didn’t let the Diamonds scare you, right? So why should one more be a problem for the amazing Connie Mahesweran!?”

Connie took a moment to realize something, Steven was right! She stood up to her mother to give her some space, she took charge when it came to sword training, she even argued against the Diamonds  _ alongside  _ Steven! She may be fully human, but when did that ever stop her?

“Thanks, Steven,” she said as she hugged him, “It is still weird to hear your new voice, though. You sound like my big brother or something!

“Hey,” Steven said nonchalantly, “That’s just what friends do,” he nudged her shoulder, “right?”

The two shared a warm laugh at this. Suddenly, Connie’s smartwatch beeped, “Oh no! I’m gonna be late! Still gotta be there for dinner tonight!”

“Hey, some things never change, right?” “Very funny, growth-spurt-boy! Kick some more robot butt, got it?”

“Yes, ma’am!” Steven gave her a mock salute as she ran off. Once she was out of sight, he looked at his own much thicker hands and made them into fists. He stared into the blue abyss above him, almost daring for Red Diamond to show her next trick so he could one up her…

 

Later, he then decided to check on his father again. Now that the man was not in the middle of a band rehearsal, he figured his father would appreciate the company. Strangely enough, when Steven arrived at the car wash and, therefore at Greg's van, Lion was there as well. He was taking a nap there, rather than his usual spot up around the lighthouse.

“Hey there, big boy!” greeted Greg as he emerged from inside the car wash, “Come to collect your pet?”

“I wasn’t planning on it, I mean he’s usually just wherever.”

“Yeah, but I guess he finally wanted some bonding time with me! Isn’t that right, Lion?”

The massive feline only opened a single eye to look at him, then looked away from him. Instead he stood up and faced Steven.

"Uh…" Steven said, "Hey big guy… it's me. I had a growth spurt!" 

Lion merely circled him, his legs tensed as if he would pounce at any moment. Steven raised his hands in a nonthreatening gesture, but that still did not put him at ease.

“Come on Lion, don’t be like that! I don’t have any Lion Lickers with me, but you can trust me!”

Hearing the name of his favorite snack caught his attention. The teenager quickly picked up on it.

“Yeah, and I know how you used to sleep on my face all the time too! We even went to the moon together, buddy! And besides, where else would I keep all my emergency snacks?”

That seemed to finally be enough to please the pink lion. He strode up to Steven in a rare display of open affection and allowed his much-older looking companion to pet him. After only a second of hesitation, Steven did so. Lion then seems to smile comforted by the fact that it really was his human friend. 

"Yeah!" Steven said, elated, "It's nice to see you too!"

Greg looked at this scene and said, "Man… that cat's never gonna like me, is he?"

“Oh come on, Dad, Lion’s never been super cuddly. He’s just happy to do his own thing.”

And with that bit, Lion resumed his usual lazy expression as he flopped back onto the ground to resume his fourteenth nap of the day.

“And for him, doing his own thing is being a big lazy butt!” scolded Steven in a mockingly fussy tone, “Get up, young man, it’s not even six o’clock yet!”

Lion just yawned in his face and tried to tune out his chatter.

"If only he were active that video you posted of him fitting into different boxes, huh sport?" Greg said.

"Yeah," Steven said, “Or those neat videos about people dancing with pets-" suddenly a bulb went off in Steven's head, "That's it!" Steven then immediately took out his phone and opened up a music playlist. He picked the most toe-tapping dance track he could find and as it began to play, he took Lion by his front paws and started to sway to the beat. The feline looked only vaguely aware of what was happening while Greg thought the whole show was hilarious. He went back inside the car wash to retrieve his phone so he could record the moment and show it to the Crystal Gems later.

As he went away, Steven continued his little jig and with some of his superhuman strength he actually succeeded in getting Lion up on his hind legs. His pet, however, looked about ready to roll his eyes out of his skull from the sheer apathy for the whole situation.

His attention was piqued, though, when Steven’s gemstone began to glow with a familiar pink light. The boy was too engrossed in his fun to notice though. Then, before long, a blinding flash slowly consumed them both until even the two in question could no longer see each other...

Greg then returned, his smartphone in hand, only to be stunned by the sight in front of him.

Instead of either Steven or Lion, there stood a massive eight-foot tall humanoid form with a massive plume of wild pink hair. The clothes that once belonged to Steven were clearly strained to contain his muscular body. His arms were almost as thick as Steven’s torso and his legs looked animalistic and prime to run a marathon and keep going. A tail flicked about behind him, only barely showing given the gigantic coif. The most curious part, however, was that his hands and feet resembled more dexterous paws complete with claws extending out of each digit. The face was also an anomaly as while it was still mostly humanoid, the nose was bright purple and his mouth was filled with sharp teeth like a predator. His eyes were firmly fixed at his hands, wide-eyed in shock and awe…

As was Greg, who dropped the phone in stunned shock…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...And with that done, I'm waiting to see how many furry jokes get made in the comments. Tune in next time to learn more about this new fusion!


	10. Walk on the Wild Side

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for a chapter showing our new fusion Nekoite!

Greg Universe just stood there in shock, having dropped his phone at the sight of the lion man... thing that may or may not have been his son.  
The thing in question was looking at its body in surprise, gradually making its way down towards the familiar gemstone in its naval. With that in sight, the pieces suddenly fell into place for this new character.  
“Whoa…” it spoke in a startlingly deep voice.  
“S-Steven? Is that you?” asked a still-shaken Greg as he slowly approached the creature, having to crane his neck up to make eye contact.   
"... … Dad?" It said.  
There was an awkward pause… then Greg began to freak out. Seeing his son fuse with his best friend was one thing, but this was finally too much for him to handle. As his breaths grew shorter, his vision began to blur until a thought entered his mind… the cat fingers…   
He screamed for a second, then stumbled over the massive hose sitting by the wall of the car wash and turned the water on, dousing the feline humanoid. He could not even make out the weak protests of his target until he finally switched the deluge off.  
Alas, much to his horror, the lion-man was still standing in front of him with the only difference being his head of hair was now a neon-pink sheet and an indignant squirt of water from his mouth.  
“Uh, Dad? I don’t think this is my shapeshifting…”  
Greg then looked embarrassed as he realized his son was in full control. He laughed nervously before saying, "Sorry, Steven, I… kinda though the cat fingers finally took over or something."  
Steven then began to shake the water off of his new mane, even getting down on all fours. Once he was dried off, he stood on his legs again truly took in what he was now.  
“This feels… really weird,” he commented, “It’s almost like it’s mostly still me but…”  
“Well, you’ve never fused with an animal before so that sounds about right, I guess? I’m really lost on this one, sport.”  
Steven then suddenly realized what his father just said... He immediately looked himself over again as if to confirm it. "I… I fused with Lion… I fused… with Lion… I definitely need the Gems’ help with this!”  
With that mission in mind, he turned around and began dashing down the street at a breakneck pace. However, after just a few feet, he then tripped and fell down!  
Greg, alarmed, ran to his son, “Steven! Are you okay?”  
Slowly, Steven got up, “Y-Yeah, I think so… I… this is definitely not a regular fusion…” Indeed, it was Steven in full control instead of some combination of him and Lion. However, the second he thought of Lion, he could feel something in his mind. It was not a distinct voice, but instead a subtle nudge to try walking differently. Deciding that he had nothing to lose, he lowered his front half to the ground and walked on all fours. At first he struggled to make any major progress like this, but he soon found it much easier to move. Before long, he got the hang of it and became pretty fun to him. Steven began to run at full speed when he then got another nudge in his mind. He then lept and then landed elegantly on his legs, and began to run slowly on just two feet. It was definitely easier now! “Whoa!” Steven said, stars in his eyes, “This is so awesome!”   
He soon forgot completely about any of the trepidation he once had as he alternated between two and four legs, switching between them at a whim and leaping at a moment’s notice. At his highest, he managed to get several hundred feet above the ground without using his floating powers. He treated the entire thing like a game, pushing himself harder and higher as if nothing could bring him down. All this time, Greg just looked on at this new fusion of his son, still surprised at what was happening before his eyes.  
“Uh, sport? Weren’t you gonna, you know, tell the Gems about this?” He asked awkwardly.   
In some slight realization, Steven then cheerfully said, “Oh yeah! Sorry, Dad, I guess I just forgot for a second there,” He then ran on all fours to the temple, saying, “Wait till they get a load of me!!”

 

Needless to say, Pearl, Amethyst, and Garnet each had different reactions when they saw this new fusion of Steven and Lion, with Greg having just barely followed him via the van. Garnet was grinning broadly, internally screaming with joy at another fusion barrier broken with this amalgamation of a boy and his animal companion. Pearl was about as conflicted as could possibly be, split half and half between impressed and disturbed. Amethyst, meanwhile, was just chuckling to herself. Apparently she had a running bet going with Peridot over whether Steven would fuse with Lion first or one of the Diamonds. And now, thanks to this new fusion, Peri owed her a candy bar. “So…” he said, “Whaddaya think!?”  
“Ehhhhhhhhhhh…” moaned Pearl, still stuck on what to say.  
“Dude, you look like a professional wrestler. And it is AWESOME!” said Amethyst before running outside so she could collect her prize, much to Greg’s confusion.  
Shortly afterwards, Amethyst came back dragging not only Peridot, but Lapis and Bismuth as well.   
“Ummm, did we miss something?” asked a very confused Lapis.  
“Wait, don’t tell me-” moaned Peridot before Amethyst wrapped an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her.  
“That’s right! Steven and Lion fused! Now pay up!”  
The green tech-nut walked off to go spend part of the money Greg gave her to get her ante, muttering under her breath all the way, while the other two newcomers continued to stare at the new fusion. While Lapis was still trying to wrap her head around what happened, Bismuth just looked mildly amused at the whole thing.  
“You know, it says something about my life that this doesn’t surprise me.”  
“It doesn’t?!” remarked Pearl.  
“Nah,” Bismuth remarked, “I mean after Obsidian, it’s kinda hard to top that.”  
“Guess you’ve gotta point there,” admitted Greg, “Frankly, the only thing more surprising would be if Garnet split up.”  
The fusion just flashed her dual wedding rings in Greg’s direction and he flinched. She might as well have shoved them in his face, “S-Sorry, Garnet. It’s just that… well pretty much everyone in this family’s fused with Steven by this point. Everyone except me…”  
“Well,” Amethyst piped up, “You haven’t been exactly enthusiastic about the idea ever since that night with Rose…”  
“Okay, that’s enough!” shouted Pearl as she ran up to the fused Steven, noticing how she was now several heads shorter than him, “Steven, I understand it’s interesting to try new things, but don’t you think you’ve been like this long enough?”  
“Oh come on, Pearl, don’t stress about it,” he protested, “Weren’t you excited the first time you fused with someone?”  
“Well, yes, but, it’s just…”  
“Pearl, I get it. It’s hard seeing Steven grow up like this, but he’s still the same,” advised Garnet.  
“Yeah, he just might need to clean himself with his tongue! What isn’t cool about that?!” remarked Amethyst.  
That clearly didn’t ease Pearl’s concerns as she shuddered at that mental image. The fusion however, just laughed at that, until, “Wait, I just realized something.” Everyone looked at him, “I still need a name for this fusion!”  
“Well, what do you think is right?” asked Bismuth.  
He began to ponder for a few seconds until that same subtle nudge popped in is head again. Just then, the name came to him. “Nekoite!”  
“Whatever works for you, man,” shrugged Lapis, coming to grips that this was simply yet another anomaly in her new life.  
“Now Steven, you’ve matured a great deal since we last had this talk with Stevonnie,” said Garnet, her old enthusiasm returning, “You know that fusion is no small thing. In the right hands, it can be the most wonderful thing you can experience. In the wrong hands…”  
She simply turned and looked at Lapis, who merely cringed. It was painfully obvious which fusion they were referring to…  
Steven, or rather, Nekoite realised this and said, “Right… I understand. Thank you Garnet. And don’t worry, if things go wrong, I’ll have you guys to bail me out, right?”   
“Well then, go get ‘em tiger!” joked Amethyst as she happily munched on the candy, including the wrapper, she just received from Peridot who had made it back just in time to see that cat man leap outside. 

 

Unbeknownst to all of the Gems and human observing Nekoite’s first appearance, there was another, watching every move with bated breath.  
“Incredible!” swooned Red Diamond, “He’s already shown the capabilities of fusing with organic matter completely on his own! I thought that I would need to modify his genetic code before such a feat could be done, but with this…? The sheer possibilities are endless!”  
Red Pearl stood calmly at her side, smiling almost blankly, she then said, “Indeed, my Diamond, the hybrid never ceases to amaze.”  
“It’s almost a shame the other Diamonds can’t witness this. Of course, they’d probably be demanding him to change back instantly, convinced his abilities are a curse. If only they could see things my way…”  
“Someday, My Diamond, you will enlighten them,” reassured her Pearl, “And then we will have our empire fully united once again.”  
“Yes. I’ll make them understand...My thoughts are not delusions, but prophecies! I am destined to revolutionize all Gems into the perfect species.”  
Red Diamond then opened the core database of her screen, scrolling through the innumerable stock of experiments on board. She then abruptly stopped when she saw a certain file pertaining to one of her more… useful experiments. A predator, a true hunter on the prowl… “She’s perfect…” Red said in anticipation, looking back at the image of Nekoite, “Let’s see how well she performs against this newest prey…”

 

Nekoite was currently at what used to be the DeMayo Farm. Now, it was fully owned by Peridot and the place was fully changed. The farm now had a residential building that resembled a two-story mansion from the 1920s, only with bits of Gem architecture breaking the illusion. There was also a rebuilt version of the barn, now more steeped in Gem architecture, and three times the size of the old building. The grounds themselves were separated into multiple sections, the largest section was where Peridot and Lapis grew their crops, another section had a garden where guests can mingle, and there was a third, more secluded area where Peridot would run her experiments.   
Nekoite was currently at the area trying out his newest form, much to the surprise of Bismuth, who was there making further repairs to the barnhouse. The fusion in question was actually helping her left a few heavy things... quite easily in fact.   
Nekoite was currently handling a massive slab of metal to be made into a new set of blast shields for Peri’s more explosive tests. Despite the slab being much bigger than he was, the fusion handled it as if it weighed nothing. After putting it into position, Nekoite dusted off his hands as Bismuth began taking measurements.  
Nekoite looked proud of himself as Bismuth said, "Woo! This is a heavy one!" She then turned to Nekoite and said, "Thanks again for lending a hand… or paw..."   
Nekoite just chuckled at that. “Yeah, it’s kind of both. You’re welcome either way, though.”  
“So, what’s your instincts telling you to do now?”  
“Don’t really know… Maybe nap? At least then I’d know why Lion does it, i dunno, thirty times a day!”  
As the two laughed off his remark, they noticed one of the last Gems they expected to see - Jasper. She was standing by herself on the outskirts of the new abode, any of the few Gems hanging around being sure to give her a wide berth.  
“What the heck is she doing here?” asked Bismuth.  
“Maybe she’s finally learned how to calm down?” offered Nekoite. The blacksmith did not buy his answer, though and went over to her.  
The corrupted Gem quickly spotted the oncoming Bismuth and rolled her eyes. “What do you want?”  
“Just curious what someone like you is doing here.”  
“What? Do I have to let you all know everywhere I go? Isn’t the whole ‘Crystal Gem’ schtick supposed to be about freedom?” she snarked.  
“Maybe, but so far you aren’t what I call a Crystal Gem. Last I checked, you still have a serious attitude problem.”  
“What, saving that brat from that freak of a Pearl wasn’t enough for you?! What, you want me wear some stupid uniform like the rest of you?”  
Bismuth took offense to that and quickly got inches away from Jasper’s face. “Watch your mouth, clod, or I’ll make sure you don’t have any teeth.”  
“Oh, some fancy builder is gonna tell me what to do?” shouted Jasper right back, “Why don’t you prove it?!”  
“Guys, knock it off!” shouted Nekoite in the distance. He strode up towards them, much to Jasper’s surprise.  
“What the heck is that thing?!” She even leapt backwards several feet.  
“Chill out, it’s just Steven,” said Bismuth, “He fused with Lion earlier today and-”  
“What?! That’s disgusting!”   
“Hey, that’s not nice…” moaned Nekoite.  
“I mean, fusing with other Gems is one thing, but this?! This is-”  
“I said…” growled Nekoite, almost literally as he took Bismuth’s place in Jasper’s face, “That's. Not. Nice. Take it back.”  
“Oh, really?” scoffed Jasper, “You think some fluffy freakshow intimidates me?! Make me take it back!”  
And then, much to both Gems’ shock, Nekoite obliged with an uppercut straight to Jasper’s jaw. The animal-based fusion had this almost aggressive, no-nonsense look on his face. He clearly had the guts to back up his words.  
Jasper was knocked back by the hit. Her jaw throbbed greatly. If she was an ordinary human, she would have lost a tooth from that one punch.   
Needless to say, Jasper was more than a little upset at this, “OKAY, THAT’S IT!”  
She summoned her crash helmet and beelined straight for Nekoite. Rather than back down, the fusion met her charge head-on. This also meant he left his midsection wide open for Jasper to headbutt him several feet away.  
“Knock it off, you two!” reprimanded Bismuth, “The last thing we need is you two trying to maul each other!”  
The dreadlocked Gem was completely ignored, though, as both of the fighters were putting their pride above their logic. This also proved that Nekoite was vastly different from Steven in some ways. The teenager would have done everything in his power to avoid fighting like this, but Nekoite actually looked primed for a fight. Even now, he had a slight smirk on his face, implying he was enjoying this.  
He and Jasper began circling each other, both of them eyeing each other up and trying to detect the slightest sign of an attack. Then they both stopped and met in another clash, Nekoite literally bringing out his claws for added effect. He managed to catch her off-guard with a slash to her arm which made her stop and wince.  
Jasper did not back down, though, and instead swept Nekoite’s legs out from under him. He fell over, giving her enough of an opening to deal a brutal blow to him via headbutt that knocked the wind out of him. “Come on!” Jasper said with a wicked smirk on her face, “Is that the best you can do!?”  
Nekoite growled angrily at this, and slowly got up… his gemstone began to glow and he then conjured his shield, only it seemed to change shape almost immediately after he summoned it. It was now shaped like a two-dimensional diamond, with a wide blade pointing out, split into three, resembling a claw. He had a bladed shield now! Nekoite then summoned ANOTHER bladed shield out for combat.   
“Not. Even. CLOSE!” He almost literally roared. He then blazed right at her, his new weapons at the ready, and all but ran Jasper over. The orange brawler was sent flying from the hit, but she barely had a chance to recover as Nekoite dashed towards her on all fours and spiked her into the ground with a downward swipe. Jasper, however, quickly got back up from the slam and caught his next charge with her hands. The two were deadlocked as their muscles tried to overpower each other.  
“Heh, at least now I finally found a good workout,” boasted Jasper as she started inching forward.  
“Yeah? Well maybe it’s time I stop playing around!”  
Instead of pushing against her, Nekoite suddenly flung her around several times in a circle until letting her fly into the air. The feline-man then let out a massive roar causing a blinding bright portal to appear in front of him which he leapt into with his bladed shields drawn. As Jasper flew through the air, she saw another portal opened nearby, and was shocked, intimidated even. She then instantly braced herself as she knew what was coming.  
Nekoite emerged, ready to strike her down, and primed to strike where she would have no way to defend herself. Instead, he got a surprise of his own as Jasper leaned her body all the way back until she was upside-down and planted a kick right in his face just as he slammed his shields into her. A small crater was formed in the ground from the impact.  
Thankfully, their clash took them several hundred feet away from the new barn and into the acres surrounding the property. Bismuth heard the explosive sound of their latest set of blows and ran up to find both opponents lodged a foot in the ground from each other’s blows. Both of them were also still rather dazed from that last impact.   
“Well? You both done?” asked Bismuth, “Or do I need to clear the area for round two?”  
Just then, Nekoite was consumed a pink light and finally split back into Steven and Lion.  
“No, we’re done,” assured Steven, “Maybe forever…”  
“Huh? What’s gotten into you?”  
Steven paused, then he replied, fully reacting, “I can’t believe I actually did that! I just got so carried away that I actually attacked someone! And… And I liked it, too!”  
“Steven, it wasn’t all you…”  
“Yeah, but it was mostly me! I could’ve done something but I didn’t! Jasper, I’m really sorry about that, I-”  
He was cut off, though, when the orange Gem abruptly started laughing.   
“Wha-!?” Steven went, greatly shocked at this reaction, “Jasper, you’re… laughing!?”  
“What’s so funny?” asked Bismuth.  
“You think that fight was a bad thing? That was the first actual fun thing I’ve done on this planet!”  
“HUH?!” gasped Steven, “You...liked that?! Why?”  
“Because I like fighting, what other reason is there? That fusion may still be weird, but at least it’s an actual challenge.” Jasper then smirked, more playfully, “Nekoite is pretty fun to spar with, but don’t go blabbing that to everyone! I don’t want anyone thinking I’m going soft.”   
“Uh… Thank you??” Steven said, perplexed, but relieved nonetheless.  
“Wait a sec, you call that sparring?!” yelled Bismuth, “You could've seriously hurt him!”  
“You don’t wanna know how training on Homeworld gets, then, lightweight. In those, the loser doesn’t always stay in one piece, they often got poofed. And if you’re so worried about someone getting hurt, well don’t. It’s in the past now.”  
Bismuth took a second to reflect on this then nodded, though still unsure of Jasper’s words. Then again, she understood as she went through similar sparring sessions during the initial days of the Crystal Gems’ rebellion against Homeworld. “I guess you’ve got a point there… Wait a second, who’s a lightweight?!”  
“You. Unless you want to prove me wrong?”  
Before she could explode, though, Bismuth got a hold of her temper and forced it back down. She then glared at Jasper and muttered. “I don’t feel like it.”  
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. At least that Nekoite can actually stand up for himself. If any of you want a real challenge, talk to me. I’m out of here.”  
Jasper then strolled past them, knocking into Bismuth’s shoulder along the way, until she was out of sight.  
“Did… Jasper and I just... become friends?” asked a very confused Steven.  
“Don’t think so, but at least she doesn’t hate you anymore. That counts for something,” Bismuth said, before she then added, “Although, I’m pretty sure she could use a serious attitude adjustment. I mean, seriously, she has fun on a battlefield? I mean I kinda relate to that but-”   
However at that point, Steven wasn’t listening to her. He was now looking at Lion who nudged next to him and then layed down, napping. Steven was still working the cogs in his mind, thinking, Jasper and I… just bonded… He then looked at Lion again and began to think of how amazing it was to be Nekoite, having all that power, feeling Lion’s instincts within him... and grinned; he knew exactly how to befriend Jasper now… 

 

It was later that night, past midnight even. Steven was lying in bed. He had just been listening to details on a set of blueprints with ideas the Gems had in mind for upgrades to the house. He came to like the idea of having his own full bedroom, especially considering that Pearl had regained her uncanny hobby of watching him as he slept.   
“Would you get out!?” Steven yelled the night before when this happened, as Pearl ran out of sight, “It’s even creepier now that I’m older!”  
However, he could not sleep tonight, as he kept thinking of his time as Nekoite. It felt… wonderful. Feeling so strong as if nothing could hurt him. It was primal and… nice.  
Then there was Jasper, that was pretty much the first time she actually smiled genuinely. It may have lasted only a minute, but Steven, no, Nekoite got through to her…   
Steven slowly snuck out of the beach house, grateful that no one noticed him. He snuck out and saw that Lion was there lazing on the patio. Outside, and awake for once, just staring at the ocean. “Hey Lion,” Steven said, greeting the large feline, “How’d you feel about fusing?”  
The pink beast seemed to merely lay his head down, at ease as always.  
“Guess that means you were cool with it… Never knew you were so competitive.”  
Steven let himself rest on Lion’s mane, thinking over the situation. "Then again, it was pretty awesome, wasn't it? I mean, Nekoite was amazing! We were really strong, we were tough, and… it just felt… amazing… y'know?"  
Lion yawned amicably. While to most this would seem innocuous, Steven took it as a definite yes. While a segment of his mind would always hold on to the belief that violence was not the answer, he had to admit it benefitted him this time. He had a potential new fusion to help him whenever Red Diamond came around again, he actually made some progress on getting Jasper out of her shell and he had to admit part of him felt it was exhilarating to be something completely different. Much like that first time he became Stevonnie, there was a certain uneasiness to the new form, but in the end it was a positive experience. "So…" He said in a hesitant voice, "...You wanna go at it again?"   
Rather than answer, Lion actually stood up and stared at him. Seeing that he was actually motivated for a change, Steven took his cue and walked down the stairs onto the beach. Instead of following him, Lion remained standing on the patio until Steven moved where he wanted. The feline then leapt into the air, clearly expecting Steven to follow. The boy then propelled himself with a jump of his own, heading right towards his animal companion in mid-air. Instead of colliding into each other, though, they were consumed by a flash of pink light. Then… Nekoite landed on the ground. He opened his eyes, then had a big smile on his face.“Alright, it worked!”  
His cheer did not last long, however, as his instincts perked up. A subtle warning in the back of his head that danger was nearby. Somehow, he knew that something was amiss… He smelled the air and sensed something that should not be there. He growled aggressively, then said, “Who’s there!?”   
Then suddenly, he jumped out of the way of… something… striking the spot where he was just a second ago! He landed just a few feet away, growling at the aforementioned spot and at the creature that was now there.   
The creature was a Gem, he could spot the polished black stone on the back of the base of her neck, but it was clear this was no ordinary Gem. Her eyes were yellow with black, slit pupils, her “clothing” was actually fur throughout her body and nothing else, and her hands and feet both ended in massive claws. Rather than speak, this new Gem snarled at Nekoite as she started circling the fusion.  
“Who are you?” Nekoite asked with an intimidating tone, an easy feet with his deep voice.  
The gem creature merely growled, then proceeded to pounce on the feline fusion, her claws poised to rip his eyes out. Nekoite was barely able to grab on to the clawed hand as it was inches away from his face. He then slowly managed to throw her aside. He stood up, fully aware of one thing.  
This creature was a threat. It wanted to kill him…  
He then bared his fangs, ready to fight back in any way he could. “Alright,” he said, menacingly, summoning his twin tri-bladed shields, “Bring it, dog-breath!”  
He then rushed at the creature, who immediately dodged his strike only do headbutt him in the stomach. This made him reel back for a moment, but he recovered quickly, then leapt up in the air, opening a portal as he did so and going through it.  
The lupine Gem, however, was not amused as she started looking every which way for the potential assault. When Nekoite tried the same trick as he did with Jasper, appearing right behind her, she caught on quickly and leapt out of the way.  
She then seemed to melt into the dark, becoming what seemed to be a sentient shadow! She then seemed to rush at Nekoite at breakneck speed!   
She turned tangible again seconds before crashing into him, sending both of them rolling through the sand. When the canine Gem landed on top, she tried to bite into his face only to be kicked several feet away.  
“Okay...This is getting weird…” groaned Nekoite to no one in particular as he already saw the new Gem getting back up. Fighting a werewolf-Gem… thingy was one problem, but one that could basically make herself impossible to hit? Something told him brute force alone was not going to be the answer here. Nekoite then saw the shadow rush at him. However, he noticed that she was turning back into solid mass…  
Taking advantage of this, and knowing that he only had a few seconds, the fusion then swiped a decisive slash at the Gem-creature. She yowled in pain as the bladed barricade stung her form. Rather than changing into shadow again, she took off down the sand away from the temple. As she passed by the houses lining the way, however, she was stopped by a very irate Bismuth literally busting down a door and tackling her to the ground.  
“I leave you alone for five minutes and you’re already in another fight?!” laughed Bismuth as she struggled to contain the feral Gem, “Do you go around asking for trouble?”  
“Hey, this one was an accident!” scoffed Nekoite, “But be careful, she can turn into, I dunno, shadow and-”  
The lupine Gem took that as her cue to show her signature ability and phased right out of Bismuth’s hands.   
“One of Red Diamond’s?”  
“Yep.”  
“Great. Guess I know what I’m doing tonight…”  
The creature then appeared before them in solid mass again. She showed her teeth and snarled menacingly at them. Nekoite growled right back at her, almost roaring. It looked less like two aliens fighting and more like two predators settling who would be the alpha of the pack…  
Before the brawl could start, however, something truly unexpected happened. The Gem-creature began to shriek and grab at her head; seeming to be in terrible pain. Then, after a moment of shock and surprise, the creature turned into shadow again, and rushed away from them, fleeing the battle altogether.  
The two Crystal Gems then began to chase it, but within seconds, the creature was lost to the nearby woods...  
“What… the heck just happened… ?” Bismuth asked, concerned.  
“I… don’t know…” Nekoite said, looking in the direction the creature ran to, “But I have a feeling that thing’s gonna come back…”

 

Meanwhile…  
“What!?” Red Pearl said as she watched the experiment flee despite receiving minimal injuries.   
“Hmmm...That’s quite the drawback,” observed Red Diamond, curious as ever.  
“What could be causing this, My Diamond?”   
“The most likely theory would simply be she is unstable. Her composition is unbalanced and thus, while her physical makeup is fully undamaged, she suffers from these unexpected bouts of intense internal pain. Perhaps it is due to overexertion, which means she will need more physical conditioning, or it could simply be she need adjusting on a molecular level.” She paused before proceeding, “Either way, she’s on her way back here.”  
“Back here, my Diamond?”  
“But of course, she needs to be checked up upon. Besides… I believe that she would have lost the fight regardless…”   
Red Diamond then smirked to herself, “I suppose I’ll need to provide a few enhancements to my little hunter. And when I’m done, this new fusion will be no match for her at all…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From one new character to another, it's now time for another cliffhanger! What will happen with his new hunter on the prowl? Tune in next time for what Eternos and I have in store!


	11. Cats and Dogs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for more of our story, this time with much more Black Pearl!  
> (Anyone else tempted to write an AU where everyone is pirates from that or just me?)

It was the day after the midnight attack by Red Diamond’s wolf-creature… thing. Steven was currently at the beach, enjoying himself.

Or rather, Nekoite was anyway.

The lion fusion was currently running around, experimenting with his powers. Just recently, he found that he could use his claws to scale walls and similar surfaces, something neither Steven nor Lion alone could claim to to. “This. Is. AWESOME!” Nekoite cheered with excitement as he was practicing his newfound climbing skills, making liberal use of the massive cliffside near the temple.

His climbing, however, attracted the attention of Pearl.

“Steven?! Have you been fused all night?!”

“Yeah! Don’t worry, though, I made sure to take breaks!”

Pearl chuckled, clearly uncomfortable with the situation. “Um, that’s great to hear Ste- Nekoite, but could you please come down?”

He acquiesced, but not by simply climbing down. Instead he launched himself off the rock wall with a mighty kick and let himself fly for several feet over the ocean. Pearl watched in horror, terrified for his safety, until he suddenly vanished into a portal and then reappeared out of another one a few feet from her.

“Pretty cool, right? Now I know why Lion uses these to get around all the time!”

“Riiiiiiight…”

“What’s wrong, Pearl,” asked the cat-man, “Did something else happen?”

“No, nothing of note...Wait, something ‘else?’”

“Well, yeah, there was that freaky Gem from last night.

“W-What?! One of Red Diamond’s experiments?!”

Nekoite nodded and gave the summarized version of last night’s attack. While he assured the situation was dealt with and there was no major damage done, Pearl was pacing up a storm after he was done talking.

"That’s..." Pearl was slightly torn in two at the moment. On one hand, this new Gem monster could have easily done Nekoite in, but on the other hand, she was equally surprised at how Red Diamond was already making more bold moves against them.

“...Weird?” he offered.

“Alarming, more like. It seems like she’s trying to have a tad more subterfuge this time, but even still this is brash.”

“Yeah, but she wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle!” boasted the fusion, much to Pearl’s ire.

“That’s besides the point,  _ Nekoite _ . You would do well to never underestimate your opponent.”

“What’s the problem? I was careful, I did my best, but in the end she ran away because of some major headache.”

“Exactly! She was clearly restrained by some condition and was not fighting at her full potential. Who knows what could have happened if she was at full strength?”

Nekoite seemed to think for a second, then he said, “Alright, I see your point, but you don’t need to worry!” He then had a playful, confident smirk on his face, “If she tries to show up again, I’ll be ready for her! Heh-Heh-Heh!”

Rather than defuse the situation, though, that made Pearl stop dead in her tracks and glare at him.

“Oh, well I’m so glad you can make light of the situation! Heaven knows you need MORE danger in your life!”

“Pearl, what’s the matter? You’re getting really worked up now…”

“The problem is  _ you! _ You think you’re completely invincible because of that fusion of yours, even when you could have been one step away from dying!”

Nekoite did not take kindly to that suggestion. “I said it wasn’t a problem! Besides, Bismuth was there to help with her so-”

“So what?! I am living proof that numbers mean nothing in the face of superior strength and strategy. The Crystal Gems were outnumbered by Homeworld by such a margin even I can’t contemplate and yet all those Gems are dead and here I am!”

Hurt, Nekoite argued back, “You don’t think I know that!? Pearl, even as just Steven, I’m not exactly a kid anymore, and I’m not just talking about my growth spurt. I  _ know  _ the risks! And I know how to watch my own back, okay!?”

Pearl was too flustered with how quickly Nekoite was able to argue back. Calming herself down a bit, she then replied, “I’m sorry. I just worry for you, y’know. Especially considering how you’re acting now.”

“Huh?”

“Well…” Pearl beagan, “How do I put this… You’re… a bit more… arrogant than normal.”   
“Wait, what!?”

“I think this fusion is a great capability, but… maybe you’re overdoing it a bit?”   
“Hey,” Nekoite said, “I can unfuse at  _ any time _ ! I just… don’t want to right now, that’s all.”

“Oh, really?” asked Pearl, unconvinced.

“Yeah!” 

“I’ve heard that exact same line from Sugilite. And you  _ know  _ what handful she is…”

That got under his. “Hey! I am NOTHING like Sugilite! Alright!? I- Gaaaargh!!”

Nekoite then stormed off, using a portal to pop out of sight before Pearl could catch up to him.

“Oh Steven,” Pearl said, “I’m worried that you could end up doing something you might regret…”

 

Nekoite was now at the strawberry battlefield of all places. The sweet smell of the wild strawberries growing around him helped calm him down a little. He was currently staring up at the sky, munching on a large strawberry. “Man,” Nekoite said to himself, “Why can’t Pearl just be happy for me? I mean, I’m getting the hang of this whole thing, right?”

He then felt an internal nudge, giving him some form of assurance. “Heh,” he said, looking at his gem for a few seconds, “I guess she does have a point. But… she didn’t have to overreact!”

He then laid back down, and yawned, annoyed at what had just happened minutes before. He then slowly closed his eyes, and began to snore.

 

Meanwhile, at the temple, Pearl was talking to Garnet, voicing her concern about Steven’s behaviour as Nekoite.

“...And you should’ve heard the attitude he had! He sounded like every angsty teenager, whining about how ‘I just don’t understand!’ as if I’ve never had any experience with fusion!”

“He’s just overexcited is all,” assured Garnet, “Like with Stevonnie, he’ll get his feet under him and know when to call it off.”

“But what if he doesn’t? What if his newfound ego gets the better of him and he does something really idiotic?”

“Thinking like that gets you nowhere. What matters isn’t what could go wrong, but what he did right. Bismuth talked to me about it last night and she made it sound like he had a good handle on the situation.”

“I guess so… But the way he just ran off was so… immature!”

“You know it happens to the best of us. At least he and Lion are honest with each other…”

Pearl was unsure what she was referring to, until the memory of Sardonyx and the Gem Communication Hub fiasco came to mind. The Gem all but deflated remembering the incident and had to admit she had a point. 

“Now then, I’m gonna go check out Peridot and Lapis’ new place. You’re welcome to come with me if you want.”

“Um.. sure…” Pearl said, following Garnet to the warp pad.

 

Later, Nekoite was in the outskirts of Beach City, back to his usual carefree self. He was currently having fun, weaving in and out of the woods and testing his agility. However, in all his excitement he ended up colliding with someone and fell in a heap on the leafy forest floor.

It turned out to be, of all things, Black Pearl. 

“OOOOOOOOOOOH! A sphinx!” he screamed excitedly while hopping from foot to foot, “And My Diamond tried saying you were only a myth, but wait until he sees you! Oh, do you happen to any gorgons, centaurs, minotaurs, crocodile spirits, Daleks or anyone from this weird place I heard of called Nebraska?”

Nekoite, trying to sort out the jumble of words, just blinked. “Um, Nebraska’s real so…”

“Oh sure, and next you’re going to tell me there  _ isn’t  _ a land of talking ponies! Please! Now then, would you mind accompanying me to my ship? I just can’t wait until Black Diamond sees this and-”

“Actually, I’m Nekoite. I’m just Steven fused with Lion.”

Compared to everyone else, Black Pearl looked disappointed to hear the news. “Oh, so much for proving my point. I suppose I’ll have to settle for gnomes instead. But what brings a curious fusion like you out here?”

The feline-human gave a brief rundown of how an accident brought him to life, how he got into a friendly spar with Jasper, the incident with Red Diamond’s latest minion and the scuffle he recently had with Pearl.

“Goodness, and here I thought my past few days were busy. Got a lecture from Yellow’s Pearl about my ‘poor conduct’, had a lovely meeting with those Off-Colors and their pink captain, had to spend a few hours tracking some lupine Gem, just now finished dusting the ship-”

“Wait, WHAT?! You saw that wolf-Gem?”

“Wait, you KNOW of it!?” Nekoite was just as shocked.

Black Pearl then had a nervous look on his face, “Well, she had a black Gem, right?” 

“Yeah??”

“... It was an Onyx. Onyx Gems were mostly created in Kindergartens authorized by Black Diamond. They were made mostly for reconnaissance, stealth missions and the like. However… Red Diamond wanted to take their purpose further, and make them powerful hunters… But many of them went savage in the process...”

“Yeesh. So, she has more of them?”

“Not sure, honestly. When Black Diamond heard of her intent and caught her modifying them behind his back, he naturally reported it to White Diamond. She responded…by demanding the entire line be harvested.”

“You know, Peridot said something like that a long time ago. What does that mean?”

“It essentially the equivalent of recycling...With gemstones in order to regain the raw materials from shattered Gems to be reused later. A rather gruesome process, but many see it as a necessity.”

Nekoite could feel his stomach turn hearing that and nervously looked down at his own gem, suddenly dreading the thought that it was made out of  _ dead _ Gems.

“Oh, you shouldn’t have to worry about that! Diamonds are only made from the purest materials, no harvested fragments allowed. It’s one of the many steps of quality control.”

“Phew...But you said there were more Onyxes?"

"Yes, but they are mostly scattered here and there. There are some back on Homeworld as well. But this one was obviously one of Red's pet projects she smuggled away. A primal hunter, capable of taking down any prey…"

"Then what went wrong?"

"Hm… if I'd have to guess, it might not be able to stand the atmosphere of this planet for too long in its mutated state. However," his tone was truly dark at this point, "I have no doubt that Red will be correcting this error. In fact, she's probably doing it as we speak…"

“Well, whenever it comes back, I’ll be ready for it!” assured the fusion cockily, before another thought came to mind.

“Hey, how do you know all of this anyway?”

“Well, needless to say, I’ve had an exorbitant amount of free time on my hands like My Diamond due to our exile. I’ve taken many hobbies to pass the time with one of them being cataloging various varieties of Gems.”

“Cool, so what do you know about those Spinels that attacked earlier?”

The eccentric Gem looked surprised by that name and began pacing around the trees trying to piece the name together.

“Spinel...Those overly-flexible Gems who impersonated two of your friends?”

“Yeah…”

“I’m certain I’ve heard the name before, they even resemble what I’m thinking of, but for the Gem in question that should be more or less impossible unless…”

“What? What’s so special about it?”

“Spinel was, at first, a literal one-of-a-kind Gem personally commission by White Diamond, one of the last Gems to have that honor.”

“Wait, really? Just one at first? Was it some kind of super soldier?”

“Far from it! Spinel was essentially a court jester designed exclusively for Pink Diamond…”

“WAIT, WHAT?!”

“Yes, the first Spinel was created to act as a personal playmate for Pink Diamond during the earlier days of the Diamond Authority. I’m pretty sure THAT Spinel was last seen around 6,000 years ago… Granted, I only know through second hand knowledge since I was made only 100 years ago and my Diamond went into self-exile 8,000 years ago…”

"Let me get this straight," Nekoite said almost growling in disgust, "Red Diamond took a Gem designed to be my Mom’s friend, and turned them into her own personal soldiers!?"

“Unfortunately, yes, that appears to be the case. One has to wonder where she got the idea, though, considering…”

He stopped his train of thought when he noticed Nekoite was now storming through the trees, off to who knows where. As he fled, though, Black Pearl had one last request for him.

“Let me know if you meet any accountants! Their work sounds so fascinating!”

  
  


The fusion barely heard him, though, as he plowed back through the trees to let out the aggression in his system. He had, or at least Steven hoped, that maybe he was  _ finally  _ done having secrets kept from him. The Gem War, the Diamonds,  _ Everything _ about his mom, and now some secret Gem he had never heard of? Part of him wanted to confront Pearl directly over all of this, but he decided to reign in it. Instead he vented his anger by blindly rushing through the forest, leaping several hundred feet with every bound and letting himself wander. Whenever he wanted to return home, he could just pop open a portal and be back at the temple in a few seconds… 

Suddenly, Nekoite was his by something strong that knocked him to the ground! When he turned to look behind him, he saw the werewolf Gem, Onyx, readying to claw him in the back!

“Aw great, it’s you again,” he sighed, “But at least now you don’t get to run away!”

The werewolf-like Gem merely growled in response. Nekoite then growled back as if accepting her challenge as he put some distance between his opponent.

The two then began to circle one another, each waiting for the other to make their first move. The scenario was full of tension as the two were about to come to blows. The leaves and branches around them rustled as they stared each other down until Onyx broke the stalemate by running on all fours and lunging for him.

Nekoite then let out a large roar, creating a portal as he ran, then proceeded to run through it. The creature looked around, confused but aware that it's opponent might strike at any moment. Then, lo and behold, the portal appeared again behind the feral Gem and out popped Nekoite, successfully slashing at Onyx's face in the process!

Onyx was barely deterred, though, and quickly recovered from the blow. She actually leapt upwards towards the canopy. Nekoite followed her and suddenly found himself being assaulted as his opponent leapt onto the branch for a split second, slashed at him, then turned to shadow as she leapt away to ensure he could not counterattack. The fusion growled at her direction, summoning his claw-bladed shields, just in case, looking every which way to try to find Onyx's location.

He finally found an opening when he managed to block a slash aimed at his side and then backhanded Onyx hard enough to send her flying through several branches before crashing to the ground. He then proceeded to leap at her, further tackling the hybrid to the ground. Next, he was about to deal a heavy blow to her with one of the blades shields with his own claws for good measure. The feral Gem was just barely able to react and turn into shadow at the last second. 

Once she regained her footing, she looked up at the feline fusion...and laughed. Or at least, what Nekoite assumed was as close to laughter as she could get given how she was still growling at him. Then, to really throw his head off, a brief shudder went through Onyx which then caused her to stand up on her back legs!

“What the-?” was as far as he got before she landed a punch straight to his nose.

To make matters worse, Onyx seemed just as relentless as a bipedal form as she just kept launching hits at Nekoite with no room to breathe. It was only when the fusion summoned a full-on bubble around himself that he could finally think straight.

“Okay, this is getting bad...Maybe I should go back to the temple and-”

His thoughts were cut off once again when Onyx, much to his shock, went back on all-fours and ran at him then turned into shadow at the last minute in order to phase  _ through  _ the bubble and then socked him with two fists straight to the gut. It was such a surprise that the bubble popped and sent him sprawling until he hit into a tree hard enough to bend the trunk.

Onyx, by contrast, was having the time of her life! A carnal smile was on her face at all times and was delighted to have finally met a worthy match. Her Diamond barely let her out to hunt anymore, but now she had a true challenge of her skills. She was almost saddened to see her prey down for the count. Key word being  _ almost  _ since she ran up to him with her claws poised to strike him and end her greatest hunt…

And that was when a new combatant entered the picture by appearing right between the beastly battlers and sending Onyx away with a well-timed punch. When Nekoite finally got his bearings under him, he looked up to notice the lycanthrope snarling as she clutched her bruised face from the sudden blow and saw his savior.

“Black Pearl?!” he shouted, “What the heck are you doing?!”

“Well, I was merely minding my own business when that ghastly Gem attacked. She seemed to be getting the best of you so I decided to step in,” answered the servant gem with a grimace on his face.

“W-Where’d you learn to fight?”

“As the only Gem in service to Black Diamond I wear a great deal of hats. That, to my chagrin, includes combat. If you wish to handle this foe yourself, then say the word and I will return to my other duties.”

Nekoite looked at him for a second, then at the feral Onyx, then back at Black Pearl, then immediately he said, “Actually, yeah, I could use some help with this one.” He hated to admit it, but this was already getting out of hand. 

He picked the right time to decide since Onyx was finally back on her feet and charging in for another strike. She once again lunged for Nekoite, but Black Pearl met her again. This time he swept her legs out from under her giving the fusion the perfect opportunity to kick her into the air. He followed her past the trees to spike her back down to Earth, but she turned into shadows before he attacked so his arms phased right through her. What she did not expect was Black Pearl appearing just below her and hooking his legs around her waist and slingshotting her into a tree hard enough to burrow halfway into the oak.

For a brief second they hoped she was incapacitated, but instead she let out a ferocious roar and started clawing away at the wood like mad until the tree war more or less a tall stump. She looked at her two opponents, now back on the ground, with an evil eye that quickly turned into a smirk. She normally hated having someone interrupt her hunt, but this new Gem was proving just as entertaining.

“Alright…” Black Pearl said, reaching to his now glowing gem, “This may prove a bit difficult.” He then began to reach out and grab a gem weapon. It was, of all things, two simple black bracelets that he clasped onto each of his arms. Nekoite just looked confused.

“Wait, that’s it?” he asked, clearly expecting something more.

“Just wait, I’m full of surprises,” he retorted with a smile. He sounded less like a Gem gearing up for battle and more like someone enjoying a practical joke. 

Onyx, however, was getting bored by the interruption and ran straight at them. She sent a lightning-quick kick to Black Pearl’s face, but only hit air as he ducked and tried to hit her in the knee. He hit his mark, but was surprised by her suddenly dropping back on all fours in order to dodge a swing from Nekoite and chomped onto one of his arms. As he yelped in pain and she clearly enjoyed his suffering, though, Nekoite took the opportunity to grab her by the head and fling her away like a football with the Pearl still caught in her mouth. 

“Sorry!” he shouted to his ally, but quickly found that was unnecessary.

“Wheeeeeee! You really must try this some time!”

Even Onyx looked at him puzzled. She had heard many creatures scream while in her grasp, but they never sounded so...happy about it.

The landing was less joyous, though, as they slammed right through a tree and it promptly fell on top of them. They seemed scuffed up from the blow, but quickly got back up and faced each other. Onyx tried to swipe at him with her claws, but suddenly found something holding her arm back. She tried to push herself forward until Black Pearl chuckled and revealed the bracelet on his right arm.

“My apologies, but it seems I got my one of my garrote wires wrapped around your arm.”

She snarled and yowled as she tried to get her arm free, but the strand somehow held tight. She did eventually go forward once Black Pearl yanked his arm backwards and pulled her straight into his own fist. The pain did not stop, however, as the other hand shot out its own wire and wrapped around her midsection. Soon he had her swinging into several of the nearby trees as he flung her around like a ragdoll until both wires suddenly snapped and sent her flying.

“Nekoite! You have a package coming!”

The fusion had been watching the whole fight from twenty feet away and leapt into action as soon he heard him. He charged forward with his bladed shields drawn and smashed her clean over the canopy until she fell with a resounding thud. A few seconds later, the two gems ran to this location, only to find her dark gray gem lying on the ground. 

“YES!!” Nekoite cheered with all the enthusiasm of a high school jock, vanishing his weapons, “We did it!” He pointed at the Gem and said, “In your face! In your-!!” He then noticed Black Pearl giving him a weird stare. “Oh, um… Ahem, good job there… buddy…”

While the servile Gem looked pleased with himself, he also looked down at the lifeless stone with a sense of pity. His garrote bracelets vanished as he moved forward and took hold of the stone.

“Hey, uh, Black Pearl? You okay?” asked Nekoite, “You don’t look so happy that we won.”

“Hm?” responded the Gem, “Oh, yes, I was caught up in thinking about something else. I can’t help but feel some sympathy for this Gem. A strange kinship...After all she was  _ supposed _ to be a creation of My Diamond. Instead she was warped into...this feral monstrosity.”

“Well, yeah, that sucks,” admitted the fusion, “But she’s still evil. She attacked me twice for nothing!”

“True, that is inexcusable. Violence for the sake of violence is rarely if ever the answer outside of sport. Grudges started, wars waged, lives lost, all because someone thought shoot first, ask questions never. It’s a tragic waste.”

“Huh?” 

“Pardon my soliloquy, but I’ve been quite touchy about this since my creation.”

“Touchy about  _ what? _ Fighting?”

“Yes, I suppose so. I’m far from the oldest or wisest Gem out there and I’m painfully aware of this fact. Until your arrival on Homeworld, I would’ve been shunned and abhorred by every Gem in the known universe for my differences. Black Diamond was erased from history, all his subjects shattered, and all because he did not fit the mold of the Diamond Authority. All because those Gems took one look at me or anyone outside the status quo and sought force over reason. I enjoy even the smallest things in this universe, all the minor bits and bobs that seem insignificant to others, because there might come a day when that force wins out and I’ll be shattered just like so many Off-Colors before me. It’s… partially why My Diamond and I were both so eager to meet you-, er-, or rather Steven. The Son of Pink Diamond, the antithesis to the imperialism of Gemkind, and only one who raised his voice instead of his weapons  _ and won _ ! I can’t tell you how many tried the exact same thing and were blown off the face of the cosmos for it, but not Steven! He triumphed where everyone else failed and for that I, and countless others, am eternally grateful…”

The rambling Gem once again looked at the stone in his hands before summoning a translucent black bubble around it and sending it back to his ship. He then faced a now thoroughly stunned Nekoite and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Thank you, Steven, for all you’ve done. You may have needed me today, but with a will and resolve like yours, there truly is no limits to what you can accomplish. Will you need force again? Absolutely, it’s a necessity at times and I can even see some of the appeal. Just don’t forget, though, that sometimes the  _ best _ weapon for change can be thoughts and words.”

The fusion looked to be in deep thought, even if for just a few seconds. He began to realize that, yes, while he, while  _ Steven _ was a great fighter, his main strongsuit was his desire for  _ peace _ , with as little collateral damage done as possible. It was how he was able to reform the Diamonds and change their minds about their ways.

“Yeah… you’re right about that,” Nekoite said, “Fighting is more of a last resort.” He smiled and said, “I mean I was pretty cool today, but I guess I should settle down for a bit. I’ll- I mean,  _ we’ll _ unfuse after a while.”

Black Pearl looked at him curiously as he continued, “I mean, it was fun being me, but I think I kinda overstayed my welcome, heheh.” 

“Well that is entirely your decision, but I do appreciate you taking my words to heart. Whenever that Lion is around again, however, there is one thing I would like to ask.”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“Does  _ he _ know where to find any sphinxes?” he asked with a giddy smile on his face, finally returning to his usual self.

Nekoite then let out a laugh in response, a warm, cheerful laugh…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that is end of Onyx...or is it? Tune in next time to find out...maybe!


	12. The Show Goes On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we're back! And what's Steven Universe without the occasional towny episode?

It has been a week since Nekoite and Black Pearl had defeated Red Diamond’s personal hunter, who’s gem was now in Garnet’s lava room. The gem was brought back by Steven, much to the relief of Pearl, who explained what had happened and apologized for letting his new fusion go to his head. All was quickly forgiven and now the group were curious to investigate Onyx and just what Red Diamond did to her. However, Pearl did keep an eye on Steven whenever he and Lion were in close proximity to each other…

 

Currently, Steven was walking towards the Big Donut when he saw Lars leaving the store. Instead of the Big Donut’s signature T-Shirt, which was part of the uniform, Lars was wearing a plum-colored T-shirt and a black jacket tied around his wait. It was also odd, since Steven knew Lars’ shift didn’t end for another hour. 

As he kept walking, Lars noticed him, “Oh, hey Steven!”

“Hi Lars!” Steven said, “What’s up?”

Lars had a wide grin on his face, as if he had something exciting to say, “Today’s the big day, Steven! I just sent my resignation form!” 

“Wait, what!?” Steven asked in shock, “You quit your job!? But… you can’t do that… unless..” Steven’s face then went from shock to excitement, “You mean- !?” 

“Yup!” Lars said with enthusiasm, “My parents and I finally found a place to rent out! I can finally start setting up my own bakery!”

Ever since he arrived back on Earth, Lars essentially made it his mission to be able to open up his own bakery in town. His parents, blown away by their son’s newfound drive and optimism, put everything they had into finding a location and helping to finance the business. They even invested Lars’ college fund, but that may have been due to the obvious fact that the teenager had no interest in more school after a makeshift graduation. 

“Lars!” Steven said with excitement, “This is exciting news!”

“I know, right!? Anyway it’s a block from the boardwalk, wanna take a look?” 

“Sure!” 

He followed Lars towards his new location and was shocked to find the place was already fully decorated. Past the glass doors leading inside, the floors were a classic checkerboard pattern with simple tables topped with lavender tablecloths and white stools for seating. The front counter ran the entire length of the room, still waiting to be filled with desserts. A chalkboard ran the length of one wall which was going to be the menu with Lars’ mother already writing it down. Outside, there was also a pair of small tables underneath white-and-blue patio umbrellas for outdoor dining. It clearly still had a ways to go, but Steven could already feel the clean yet simple vibe the bakery would have once it was fully opened.

“So…?” Lars said, smirking, “Whaddaya think?” 

Steven had stars in his eyes, “This is awesome!”

“Heh!” Lars still had his smile on, “Thanks, Steven I just hope that this goes well. I had some of my old crew helping out with the setup… Padparadsha seems to be pretty keen on what people might like. Pretty weird for someone who can basically predict the past, but hey, a helping hand is a helping hand, right?”

“Ha-ha! I hear that!”

Lars led Steven to the back room where a kitchen was waiting to be put together. Several pieces of stainless steel equipment and tables were strewn about, many of them still wrapped up in plastic and ready to be organized into a kitchen.

“Wow, this place it pretty cool!” Steven told his friend.

“Yeah,” Lars said, “But it’s still got a long way to go… I’ll be ready though, I just know it.”

Steven smiled proudly at his friend. Lars certainly came a long way from the boy who once went to great lengths to skip work for a day…

 

Later, Steven went to visit Connie. He wanted to tell her about his time as Nekoite; he actually thought she would be into the idea, given that her favorite book series was a fantasy story. Eventually, he arrived at her house. He stepped forward and knocked on the front door. Her father, heading out for his latest security job answered the door.

“Hello there, Ste...ven?”

“Hi, Mr. Mahesweran!” the boy greeted amicably, “Did I come at a bad time?”

“Oh, uh, no, Connie’s here, I’m just heading for work but...uh…”

“Yeah?”

“Doug? Who’s at the door?” asked Dr. Mahesweran from the kitchen.

“It’s just… uh… Steven, dear,” answered her husband as he moved aside to let Steven in. He made his way to where the mother was putting away some groceries.

“Good afternoon, Ste- Oh my word!” she suddenly exclaimed when she saw him.

“What?! What’s wrong? Did I forget my deodorant?”

“No, but how did you suddenly get several feet taller?! And your voice! And your neck?!”

Rather than be upset, the boy just chuckled. “Don’t worry, everyone says that. I’m used to it!”

“Mom!” said Connie as she came downstairs, “Calm down, I told you all about it, remember? How Steven got poofed and came out looking like this?”

“Oh… Uh, right,” said the doctor, “But still, I never quite imagined it would be this drastic. How did your vital organs survive that process? How is there no negative side effects from such spontaneous growth? It questions every single thing I spent over a decade getting a doctorate for!”

“Honey, as strange as it is, it isn’t exactly the  _ weirdest  _ thing we’ve seen,” said Doug, trying to calm his wife down, “After all, at least it didn’t involve space travel this time!” The good doctor then cringed as she remembered how Connie went to outer space almost without reason. It DID merit new human-alien relationships, but still, Dr. Mahesweran nearly had a heart attack that day…

“I suppose you’re right. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s a good kid and our daughter’s best friend.”

“But just make sure she’s back home by ten! Got that, mister?” said Dough while pointing an accusing finger straight at Steven.

“Daaaaaaad,” whined Connie, “That’s not funny!”

“It kind of is to me!” chuckled Steven.

“Come on, we need to get out of here before they break out the baby pictures!”

“Wait, really? You have those?” 

“Three photo albums worth!” chimed Priyanka with a devious smile. Connie all but screamed as she literally dragged Steven out the front door and halfway down the street before calming down

… Slightly anyway.

“Steven!” the now embarrassed Connie yelled at the now giggling Steven, “ _ Why _ would you ask something like that!?” 

“What?” Steven said, trying to calm himself down, “I was curious.”

“Yeah, but-!? Gaaahh!” She then threw her head down in further embarrassment.

“Oh come on, you saw some of mine!”

“Yeah, like a page of them from your birthdays! My parents aren’t kidding, they were the kind who all but filmed me  _ every day _ as a baby to ‘cherish the memories!’ At least now they’ve laid off with stuff like that…”

“Hey, don’t sweat it, parents are just like that,” Steven replied reassuredly, “I mean, back when Dad was still trying to raise me, the Gems actually  _ kidnapped  _ me to protect me!”

“Wait, what!?”

“Long story, but yeah, the three of them were  _ really  _ confused about how Rose was gone. They got better!”

Connie had to admit he had a point. “Anyway, what new adventures have you been having? The most exciting thing I’ve done this week is algebra.”

“Well… have you ever wondered what would happen if Lion and I tried to fuse together?”

“Wait… really!?” Connie’s eyes lit up at that moment, “That would be awesome! I- Wait, you didn’t…!”

Steven had a broad grin as he silently showed her a screenshot he got from his father when he accidentally got a few seconds of Nekoite on footage. 

“No. Way. This is just like what happened in book two of the Spirit Morph Saga!”

“I knew you’d think of that! Although I did kinda get carried away with it… And a werewolf-Gem attacked me.”

“Heh?”

And thus came an even longer explanation from his sparring match with Jasper to his pair of run-ins with Onyx. By the end of it all, Connie looked less enthused and more confused.

“Okay, that’s weird even by your standards.”

“Eh, I thought those stretchy Gems were weirder. At least Onyx isn’t stretchy like some cartoon character.” 

“I’m more weirded out by how Jasper was actually  _ nice  _ to you! She’s the biggest grump ever and spent her first few days here trying not to pummel you!”

“Yeah… well, I’m just glad I was able to actually  _ befriend _ her for once. I think I might need Nekoite’s help just to deal with her in the future.”

“Heh, I can easily see that.”

The two shared a small laugh.

 

Later the duo was walking along the edge of the town, looking at a few small businesses as they simply enjoyed being together without any imminent threat coming for them. As they walked down the street, however, they saw none other than Jamie past a display window filled with what appeared to be stage costumes on mannequins with a sign out from advertising acting classes.

One of them seemed to be for a new play that Jamie is planning. What surprised them more was when they saw the thespian himself walk out of the theater with his head in his hands.

“Jamie?! Is that you?”

“Hm?” muttered Jamie as he looked to see Steven and Connie both gawking at him. The young man had clearly been putting some time into exercising as he went from a typical gangly teenager, not unlike Lars really, to a noticeably muscular body. While he would never be confused for a bodybuilder, it was impressive how much he managed to change since the last time either of them saw him.

“Oh, hey you guys. Nice new shirt, Steven.”

“Um, thanks… But what’s going on with you? Is this shop yours?”

“And why do you sound so… bland? Where’s all the flowery dialogue you love saying?” asked Connie.

“My vernacular is missing, just like all the customers from my acting school,” he said, a bit of sadness in his voice. 

“Wait, what!?” Steven said in disbelief, “But… you’re one of the best performers in town! How could your school be struggling!?”

“Well…” admitted Connie, “Given the small customer base in a town like Beach City and lower-than-average median income that comes from having an economy heavily based around a peak tourism season, it actually makes sense.”

Both of the boys just stared at her, trying to wrap the facts she spewed around their heads.

“I may have read a few economics books…” she sheepishly said, “B-but that still sucks! Have you tried advertising?”

“Yeah, but the bus driver didn’t like me doing one-man recreations of  _ Hamlet _ …”

“Really? That sounds great!” said Steven.

“Your chipper disposition rouses my heart, but it’s still a shame. I put so much into this place…”

“You mean all your money?!”

“No, my parents own the building. They loaned it to me saying I had a month to get it off the ground or else I’d have to go to community college in Keystone!”

At that point Steven and moreso Connie felt their stomachs drop. They KNEW what Jamie was like and they knew it would crush him if he had to abandon his dreams. Especially that whole fiasco with Garnet a while back… 

“Jamie, that’s not gonna happen!” assured Steven, “You’re a thespian who needs to share his talent with the world, not throw it away!”

“Yeah, all you need is some exposure,” added Connie, “I think the bigger problem is that nobody knows you’re here. If we just get the word out than that should bring in some people!”

“Sure, but how?” Jamie asked solemnly, “I’ve done all I can think of… Maybe I’m just not cut out for this…”

“It’s actually a pretty common problem in small businesses. You’ve got a great product or idea, but you don’t have that much business sense.”

“Good thing you’ve got the smartest girl in Beach City to fix that!” proclaimed Steven, “Plus me!”

At this, Jamie slowly had a hopeful smile on his face. “That sounds great, but what do you have in mind?”

Both Steven and Connie were in thought, then Connie spoke, “What about a twist on an old story?”

Steven then chimed in, “Like, a fairy tale?”

“Yeah! But maybe with a genderswapped role?”

“Ooh, yeah! Like Cinderella or something!” 

“Methinks this will be a success!” cheered Jamie as he felt his energy return to him. He ran inside to start putting together his character while the two of them ran over to Steven’s house to start putting together their ideas for this new play.

 

A few minutes later they texted Jamie to arrive so he can see what they have so far.

“Greetings, producers!” announced the thespian as he arrived in costume - a dingy brown smock that looked like it had been sewn together from whatever rags had been lying about an old-fashioned scullery from medieval times.

Steven and Connie both looked at him with a smile.   
“Wow, that’s a neat costume, Jamie!” Steven said, impressed.

“Heh, thanks!” Jamie replied, “I thought it would be best to get into character!”

“Heh, true,” Connie said, knowing him quite well, “Anyway, the script was pretty easy since the ad is only a few minutes long, but we need a location and someone to play the princess.”

“My studio already has backdrops ready and I own the place so it’s free to use!”

“Great! Now all we need is your co-star…”

“So… Hm…” Steven was deep in thought. He looked at Jamie, then whispered to Connie, “We can automatically rule out Garnet.”

“Yeah,” Connie whispered back, “Good call. So… who do we go with? Hm… Maybe Amethyst?” 

Steven briefly considered the idea, going through the scene in his mind until Amethyst was to deliver her first line. 

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Man, are you for real?! Is that how people talked back then?! That’s hilarious!” 

“Nope,” resigned Steven.

“Well, Pearl actually seems like a pretty good actress. Maybe her?”

Another run-through in Steven’s head and this one went much better. The only snag, however, was at the climax of the scene as the two were supposed to share a tender kiss. In this case, though, Jamie began to lean in while Pearl began backing away until Jamie broke character.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Wha-?! Oh, nothing, it’s just, well, how should I put this...Uhhhhhhhhhh...It’s the floor!”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the floor sounds like it’s unstable, maybe even suffering decay! It’s unsafe! I’ll go check on it and be right back!” Pearl then marched away with a toolbox she summoned from her gem. She only returned four hours later after thoroughly inspecting the entire building and handing Jamie a business card for a contractor before running back to the temple.

“I think that’s the wrong part for her.”

“Yeah… agreed… I know that Peridot wouldn’t wanna do it, she’s rather be in the audience… But I think she’d be perfect for the backstage stuff.” 

Steven can easily imagine Peridot in the backstage area, in charge of the lighting, props, backdrops. Plus he had a hunch that the Gem would be very eager to rewrite the whole show otherwise...

“Well the only one left at that point is Lapis but I don’t know…”

“She’s a better pick than Bismuth. And Jasper’s more likely to literally tear the house down…”

“Wait a minute, how many women live here? I thought it was just you and those other three like Garnet?” asked a confused Jamie.

“Oh boy, that’s a long story. Bottom line is there are a LOT more Gems around here…”

“That does explain the sudden housing boom around here...I merely thought it was some elaborate movie set.”

“Heh, a movie about the Crystal Gems…” thought Connie, “Wonder what that’d be like?”

“Lots of singing!” said Steven brightly. 

“Yeah, definitely,” Connie said in agreement.

“Uh… who’s Lapis?” Jamie asked, still confused.

“One second…” Steven pulled out his phone and pulled up the video chat app. With only a few minutes he had Lapis on his screen.

“Hey Steven! What’s up?”

“We’re going to make a play with a friend and we want you to be in it!”

“Wait, you mean like on  _ Camp Pining Hearts _ ?”

“Kind of, but it’s a lot shorter. It’s to help a friend of mine with his acting school or else he’ll might have to become…  _ a businessman _ !”

Lapis giggled at his mock horror before signing off and quickly appearing in the room via warp pad. 

“Great! Lapis, this is Jamie,” introduced Connie, “He’s the actor you’ll be working with.”

“Hey,” waved the Gem in her usual tone, but was confused as Jamie was staring at her.

“Uh…” Jamie then whispered to his friend, “Are you sure about this Steven? She seems… Unenthusiastic, to say the least.”

“Come on, Jamie,” Steven replied quietly, “Just give her a chance. It’ll be great!”

Jamie looked at Lapis again, uncertain. Then… “Alright, I’ll give this a shot.”

“Okay, the place we’re making this thing is in town a few blocks away,” instructed Steven, “Jamie, do you have something for Lapis to wear?”

“What’s wrong with how I look?” asked the aquatic Gem with her arms crossed.

“It’s nothing personal!” assured Jamie, “It’s just a way to get into character and make the scene more authentic.”

“Okay… Fair enough.”

 

Within the next few minutes, Lapis Lazuli was tasked with trying on different costumes and combinations in order to find the right one from the backrooms of Jamie’s school. There were a misfires, though including a traditional flowing, fairy-tail outfit that ironically didn’t sit well with Jamie, an over-the-top 80s outfit that made everyone cringe. And lastly some clown… princess… suit. Either way everyone began to laugh, even Lapis herself laughed warmly…

Later they were trying another outfit for her.

“Okay… this should be one!” Steven said.

“Oooh, that’s perfect!” agreed Connie.

“Well, now you’re dressed for the part!” commended Jamie.

The Gem herself had to admit it was her favorite of the lot. She emerged from the dressing room wearing a well-made yet simple wrap dress that ran down past her knees. The fabric was layered different layers of blue starting from near black at the bottom before reaching a sky blue around her shoulders with a subtle wave motif. Combined with her natural blue color scheme and it created a harmonious design that seemed made for her. 

“That’s…” Jamie seemed to pause at the moment, before seemingly snapping out of this, “It’s perfect! You look great!” 

“Uh… Thanks,” Lapis said, near monotone, “I like it.”

“Okay,” Connie said, “Now we need the costumes you’ll wear, Jamie!”

“Wait, what!?” Jamie said confused, “But I already-”

“No you don’t,” Steven said, enthusiastic, “Don’t worry there.”

“We’ve got this!” Connie added with a more mischievous grin on her face.

And so the two younger teens pulled Jamie into the back and only let him out when they were done. Instead of his medieval peasant getup he was wearing a baggy brown overcoat with no visible shirt underneath, a patched-up baseball cap on his head and a stained pair of running shorts as the only things on his legs besides mismatched sandals.

“We wanted something a tad more modern for our idea,” explained Connie, “So while we think you have the right idea getting into character, we need to also have you two matching.”

Lapis could not help but giggle at one little omission to his outfit. “Aren’t you supposed to be wearing a shirt?”

“He’s too poor for one!” explained Steven. Connie giggled at this response.

Jamie looked down at his outfit. Then he said, “Huh. I guess I can make this work. After all, the best actors can make any outfit work!” He then walked over to a nearby mirror and looked at himself before regaining his stride and headed to the front stage where Lapis was still reading through the script. They ran a few rehearsals inside with Steven and Connie enjoying being in the director’s chairs. Once they were confident they were ready, they grabbed everything they needed from the building and went to an open portion of beach with Steven bringing along a camera and a tripod. 

“Okay,” he said, “This will only be the first take so don’t worry if you flub a line.” He took out a blue shawl and gave it to Lapis, “Cover yourself with this and you’re good to go. You guys remember what was in the script right?” Jamie and Lapis nodded.

“Cool! Ready? Aaaand, action!”

 

A slight breeze blew over the coastline, much to the distress of a woman in a striking blue ensemble. She clutched the shawl wrapped around her head as much as she could until the gust died down. Once her headscarf was safe, she continued looking through the sand for what she came for. Soon a shabbily dressed young man crossed her path and accidentally bumped into her shoulder.

“Excuse me…” bid the stranger as he wandered off. The woman paid him no mind until she caught something in his hands. A slight glint of blue that caught her eye…

“Excuse me?”

“Hm?” 

“Can you please help me? I lost something here on this beach and now I can’t find it…”

The stranger turned started to walk away until she spoke up again.

“It’s a pair of earrings? Sapphires in the shape of a swan, have you seen anything like it?”

The man turned around to face her revealing a face even younger than hers, but seemed much more grizzled.

“Sorry lady,” he apologized, “But nothin’ like that around here. Only jewelry we got around here is seashells.”

“Oh no…” she fretted as she clutched her shoulders, “I must find those earrings! Those were custom made!”

“Really?” asked the young man, much more interested “One of a kind?”

“Oh yes, extremely valuable! I’d have nightmares thinking it wound up on the black market!”

“Hmmmm… Well there was that one thing…”

“Wait, really?! You saw something?”

“Now I might be wrong on this, but I could’ve sworn I saw a pair of studs like that in the next town over. Better hurry, though, think there’s a big sale going on today…”

“Oh no! I better call my chauffeur right away! Thank you so much!” called the woman as she ran back towards town with her hands already blazing through a phone number on a very expensive cell phone.

The man unclenched his hand and looked down at the sapphire earrings in his grasp. His face lit up with the biggest smile he had in years.

“Guess I finally got a break! And now I know these things are  _ way  _ better off with me than that ditz…”

Much to his surprise, though, the woman came running back towards him! He quickly stuffed the jewelry into one of the many pockets on his overcoat as she came up to him. 

“Sorry...I forgot something…” she huffed as she reached for a leather purse she now had over one shoulder and pulled out a dollar bill.

“Huh? What’s that for?”

“For helping me with that tip, of course! I couldn’t just let someone like you go unrewarded so take it!”

The young man reached out hesitantly, almost like he was expecting her to pull back, and accepted the money. Then he actually looked at it and nearly fainted.

“What the heck?! This is a hundred bucks!”

“Well, sorry, I know it’s not that much but-”

“‘Not that much?!’ I consider it a good day to find a buck lying on the ground! This is like winning the jackpot for me!”

“Really? Goodness, what is the economy like around here?”

The man let out a snide laugh at that. “For me, it’s just the National Bank of Mom and Dad don’t want anything to do with me. Pretty simple.”

The woman stepped back in shock. “Wait, your parents just  _ abandoned _ you?!”

“Not really...More like I abandoned them. My mom’s got a really ritzy hotel in the city up north and my old man’s got a really booming construction business. From day one, they wanted me to be some big-money tycoon and make them even richer.”

“Well, nothing’s wrong with financial success…”

“Yeah, ‘till it turns you into rotten parents. Getting shoved into every advanced class even when you suck at the subject, getting the few friends you had turned away because of ‘poor social tastes’, and then them already signing me up for an uppity university when I was eleven.”

“Okay that’s… Really extreme but-”

“So then when I was sixteen I told them what I thought. I told them the only class I ever liked was art class and I wanted to be a sculptor. Do you know how my loving parents took the news? Mom laughed in my face and dearest Daddy told me I’m gonna be an entrepreneur and like it or else I wouldn’t have a room there.”

“That’s… incisive?” she asked with worry.

“More like bullying,” he answered back, “So after a few months I just… left. Found a suitcase, grabbed whatever I could shove into it and left. Stayed with a buddy for a while, but then he threw me out ‘cause he didn’t want me around anymore…”

Throughout the whole speech, his body was tense and his voice was clipped. By the end, though, he took off his ratty cap and just stared at the ocean. 

“How very sad for you,” she replied, her tone saddened, “Have you tried going back?”

“Once. Slammed the door in my face. Never tried again.”

“My goodness…” she reached into her purse for more money, but was interrupted by her phone ringing.

“Oh no…” she grumbled.

“What? My pity party getting you down?”

Instead of replying to his quip, she answered her phone and seemed to brace herself. Even from several feet away with the sound of the waves, he could hear a heavily accented man’s voice screaming at her from the top of his lungs. He did not pick up the whole conversation, but he could distinctly pick up “responsibilities”, “scandalous”, and…

“Princess?! You’re a-”

“SHHH!!” she ordered as she clasped her hands over his mouth, “Do. Not. Tell.  _ Anyone. _ I am in hot enough water as it is so-”

“What’s… someone like you… doing in some no-name town looking for earrings?”

“I just wanted to see the countryside a little bit so I had my chauffeur go the long way. I’m supposed to be at some overblown charity event… And I’m fairly certain I’m staying at your mother’s hotel.”

“Eh, even I can’t blame you there,” he admitted, “I may hate the management, but they’ve got great room service.”

“How would you know that?”

“Well, the staff of the place seemed to really like me when I was a kid. The maids’ would sneak me breath mints, the doorman let me wear his hat and even the manager who always had a stick up her butt whenever my mom was around would tell me what a good boy I was.... How sad is it when the people being paid to be nice are nicer than your actual parents?”

“I… imagine it must be terrible…” she said solemnly.

“Then again...it sounds like life in whatever palace you live in isn’t all ball gowns and bachelors, right?”

“... I suppose not. Then again, that’s why I come out more on, well, let’s say ‘exploration trips.’”

He smiled upon hearing the princess had a slight rebellious streak to her. Who would’ve thought?

“Those earrings, though, are something I need to find. They were a present from a noble of a trading partner of ours-”

“And if you lose the gift they got you, they wouldn’t like you very much?”

“Exactly! It could have major repercussions on our economy and diplomacy!”

“Well crud…” muttered the boy as he fished the earrings out of his pockets and reluctantly handed them to her.

“Wait, what?  _ You  _ found them?!”

“Yeah… I didn’t know what they were and was just gonna take them to a pawn shop. Now though… Stupid conscience tells me I should give them back. I don’t need to think of some kingdom going to heck just so I can get some better food.”

He silently placed them in his hand and waited. Waited for what, he was not sure, but he knew something bad was coming. A slap to the face, a bout of screaming, something angry and dramatic. Heck, given this was a literal princess, could she have him arrested or even executed for this?!

Instead he got a thankful hug and her whispering to him. “You have no idea how much this means to me… Thank you... ”

“Rocco,” he answered as he hugged her back, “My name’s Rocco.”

She happily put the dazzling accessories on and then pulled something else out from her purse. She placed in his hands and then fled for her ride while waving him goodbye as she ran across the sand. 

“Rocco” then turned to the camera, looking it straight in the eye and began to speak.

“I hope you all enjoyed the show!” he spoke in a much more jaunty tone, “But this is only a small example of what the theatrical arts can accomplish! If you too want to awaken the inner thespian in you, than I can help! My name is Jamie, the proud owner of Jamie’s School of Theater Showmanship in Beach City! Come to see the show, leave  _ being  _ the show!”

He flashed a pearly white smile while ‘accidentally’ losing the overcoat around his shoulders leaving his bare chest exposed. 

“And cut!” called Connie from behind the camera, signalling Steven to shut the device off. 

“That was fantastic!” praised Steven, “You really nailed it!”

“Really?” asked a blushing Lapis, “I mean, it was really fun but-”

“Ah ah, don’t chastise yourself,” advised Jamie, “You were great, Lapis. It seems you have far more talent than I thought at first glance”

Still blushing, Lapis smiled. “Thanks. If you ever need someone else for this, I guess I could help again…”

“Well, I’m hoping this ad will get me filled up with students, but if you’d ever like to enroll I’ll save a spot for you.”

“Uh… sure.”   
“Wow,” Steven said, looking at the recording they did, “This is pretty cool!! But, uh, Jamie, what was with that bit at the end? Taking off the coat like that??”

“Well, a little fanservice for the audience doesn’t hurt…”

“Fanservice?” asked Lapis

“Yeah!” Jamie took off the coat, becoming bare-chested again, “Something to keep the audience’s attention?”

“Yeah… That was kind of the idea in mind,” admitted Connie.

“Connie!” shouted Steven with mock surprise, “What will your parents say about this?!”

“Dad would really like the play and so would Mom, but she would probably rewatch the ending for some reason…”

Steven giggled at this response, especially considering what happened earlier that day. With all that done, though, Connie departed to edit the commercial together while Steven helped bring the equipment back to Jamie’s place. There, the two began to talk. 

"Y'know," Jamie said, I almost didn't recognize you at first Steven. You've really grown!"

“I thought the same thing about you! When did you get so buff?”

“Mostly through protein shakes and exercise videos, but it was all to further my craft!”

“Yeah, mine’s a much longer story…” 

“Well, look on the bright side, you might just make it in the world of theater as a creator someday with all the stories you could tell!”

Steven smiled at this, he then decided to tell Jamie a few details about what happened, omitting any details about his time with his mom. Afterwards Jamie was shocked, "Wait, you mean you pretty much  _ almost died!? _ "

“Yeah, but now here I am! Steven Universe, Crystal Gem and part-time playwright!”

“Well, that certainly would make for a show fit for Empire City. Plus it kinda explains your growth spurt, your body had to adapt! I mean, you're more built than me!"

“Heh, maybe, but don’t expect me to be doing any shirtless scenes!”

“Oh, not now, you’re much too young for that, but perhaps in the future… In front of Connie?”

“Wait, what?!” Steven's face reddened upon hearing that. Jamie couldn't help but laugh.

"Relax, I'm just messing around! Everyone’s different with couples, especially when they’re your best friend."

“But Connie… And me just feels so…”

“Weird because of how long you’ve known her?”

“Yeah…”

“So if you’re fine being friends for now, then stay being friends. No one’s demanding you hook up right now, it’s only a possibility.”

“Huh, that’s really good advice. When did you get so good at this?”

“A certain someone you know told me that love at first sight isn’t something that works like in fairy tales. It takes time to form a real relationship."

"Oh." At that moment, Steven knew that Jamie really was finally over Garnet.

"Yup," Jamie smirked. Then Steven's phone buzzed. He then checked the phone, it was Ronaldo. He opened it, only to find a message in bold and all caps that read,  **URGENT! GET HERE A.S.A.P.!!**

“Uh, Jamie, I’m gonna have to cut this short, I’ll see you around, okay?”

“Sure thing, Steven! Thanks for all your help!”

 

A few floating jumps later and Steven was at the lighthouse where Ronaldo was staring intently at an image on his computer screen. The blogger was so engrossed by it he barely even noticed Steven entering the room.

“Ronaldo, what is it? I’m here.”

“Oh, thank goodness! You really need to see this!”

Steven took his word for it and stared at the screen, fearing that some giant asteroid or deadly space laser was approaching, but relaxed when he saw a gigantic blue spaceship. In the shape of a right arm.

“Oh, it’s just Blue Diamond coming. Nothing to fear, Ronaldo.”

Then, only a few moments later, Steven realized that if one of the Diamonds was coming to visit him in person, that might be a cause for alarm in and of itself.

“Uh, better go make sure what she wants, though… You shouldn’t have to much to worry about.”

“Um… okay? Just be careful Steven, I still don’t trust those giant ladies…”

After leaving Ronaldo and his paranoid comment, Steven went to the spot on the beach where he knew Blue Diamond’s ship would be.

The massive craft’s landing quickly drew the attention of all the nearby Crystal Gems who were around and all had to make way so the titanic matriarch did not accidentally step on anyone.

“Steven, oh thank the stars you’re already here! There isn’t a moment to waste, I desperately need your help!”

“What’s the problem?”

“It’s the Human Zoo! I intercepted a transmission that says Red Diamond’s planning on launching an attack there any minute!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now the plot's back! Tune in next time to see how the Crystal Gems will fare... IN SPACE! AGAIN!


	13. Chased Into Space

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the many benefits of having a great co-writer: having twice as many hands means more frequent updates!

Even by Steven’s standards, today was a bizarre day. He’s literally fought monsters, confronted even God doesn't know how many of his mother’s problems, and even managed to pacify an imperialist society of alien rock women. Now, though, he was already heading into outer space in Blue Diamond’s ship in order to stop an oncoming invasion of Gem mutants led by a madwoman who could loosely be called his long-lost aunt.

 

To make matters worse, he had to spend several minutes fabricating a story to the majority of the Crystal Gems as most of them did not know the story of Pink Diamond. Many of them wanted to jump at the chance to have a mission again, but the sad truth was that many of them were not ready for the reveal that Rose Quartz was far from the Gem they knew. It took Blue herself to calm the group down after someone started demanding that they just let Red Diamond take the place if it meant one less thing associated with Pink Diamond.

That left Steven with Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, Bismuth and a seemingly reluctant Jasper to help with the oncoming attack. They even brought Lion just in case. The trip also raised some problems as not everyone in the group was fully informed.

“Okay, could someone tell me what the heck a Human Zoo is?” asked an impatient Bismuth.

The others were all silent for a moment until Pearl stepped forward. “Well, back in the days when she was still Pink Diamond, she stated concern for the lifeforms on Earth. In response, the other Diamonds… well… ‘retrieved’ humans from Earth and placed them in an enclosed habitat.”

“Are. You. KIDDING ME?!”

“Sadly, no,” answered Garnet, “She still wasn’t sure how humans worked at that point.”

“So the best thing they could think of is  _ kidnapping  _ people and treating them like  _ pets?! _ What was Rose thinking?!”

“To be fair, she was far from her days as Rose Quartz,” admitted Blue Diamond, “And we only went along with it because it seemed like a good idea… at the time.”

Steven looked at her with a worried expression on his face. Blue looked back at him, then looked away. Suddenly, her Pearl spoke up, “My Diamond, we are approaching the Human Zoo now.”

“Oh no, she’s already here!”

The eight Crystal Gems saw that Blue Pearl was right and they sadly arrived too late. Several pods were already present and engaging in dogfights with the vessels Blue Diamond sent to guard the place. It seemed Red had even found a way to let her ships change shape as they could not only dodge, but briefly shift their structure to avoid the laser fire. While Blue’s forces had the numbers advantage, they were quickly getting outpaced by the unpredictability of their craftier opponents. The actual zoo itself was mostly unharmed, but it had taken a few spots of damage from collateral. Even worse was that the group spotted another group of red pods arriving and ignoring the enemy fighters.

“And she’s already called for reinforcements,” said Jasper, “Do any of the other Diamonds know about this?”

“Pearl, go contact Yellow and White right now! Tell to send anyone they can spare!” ordered Blue Diamond.

“At once, My Diamond.”

“Wait, they aren’t fighting anyone,” noticed Peridot, “They’re latching onto the zoo!”

Steven looked in horror at the fact that the techie was right about that statement. “What does that mean?!”

“It means she’s sending troops inside the place to infiltrate it,” said Pearl, “Judging from how eager she is to have Steven as a test subject, she’s planning on abducting the humans still living there.”

“Well then let’s stop talking and get to busting some freaky faces!” exclaimed Amethyst, “The Famethyst are in there too!”

They immediately rushed into the scene via warp pad, but after taking a few steps they ran into a few of Red Diamonds fully armed troops faced them. Compared to the other experiments they saw, however, the small squad of gems in front of them looked like barely-altered rubies and jades with only some light grey armor plating along their bodies.

“Halt!” one of them proclaimed, “This station is now under the control of Red Diamond! Leave or you will all be-”

She never got the chance to finish as Jasper charged forward and punched her into a nearby wall.

“Talking’s over! Everyone get to fighting!”

And with that, the other seven charged ahead and made quick work of their opponents. Amethyst quickly wrapped one of them in her whip leaving Pearl free to poof them with her spear. Garnet was already bubbling one she had quickly beaten with a few gauntlet punches. Peridot and Bismuth pummeled another one into submission using a combination of shapeshifting hands and flying metal projectiles. Even Steven was able to take on a few with his new sword and shield, easily handling two of them, before they were poofed by Lapis via a few water spears. Lion himself went to town with a few as well.

“Heh, that was too easy!” bragged Amethyst.

“Never underestimate your opponents,” reminded Pearl, “Especially given who they work for.”

The heroic bunch ran forward out of the corridor and into a larger room where Holly Blue Agate was barking orders at two misshapen Amethysts to go clear out intruders from one of the lower decks.

She then looked at the reinforcements, then to Steven, then froze… “You… You’re…”

“It’s Steven, not Pink Diamond, and yes you were a real jerk to me and  _ especially  _ Pearl. Now let’s all just-”

Before he could finish, though, the larger Gem fell to her knees and started smashing her head against the floor, literally kowtowing to the teenage boy.

“My deepest apologies, Your Eminence! I should have been able to recognize one of the Diamonds and her exclusive entourage at first glance, but instead I belittled and insulted you and even threatened to have you all shattered! I will accept any punishment you or your court sees fit!”

“Anything, you say…” smirked Amethyst, unable to resist her claims, “Well first you can-”

“No, no time for that!” yelled Pearl as she stepped forward, “Now if you can please direct us to-”

“Please, I am begging you to punish me for my blights! I’ll resign from my post, I’ll go to work operating injectors at the worst Kindergarten in the quadrant, I’ll even do the work of a Pearl!

Pearl herself grinned at such an idea, whereas Steven frowned, however, before anything else would happen, the whole place shook!

“What the-!?” was Amethyst’s reaction.

“Red Diamond’s forces are still coming! We need to move!” Garnet stated.

“This is a battle!” shouted Jasper as she picked up Holly Blue by her shoulders, “Now is not the time for pity! Pull! Yourself! Together!” She punctuated her last few words with a slap.

The Agate managed to compose herself and regain some of her usual demeanor. “Fair enough, you are correct. Now then, I sent those two Amethysts to the barracks to retrieve all the weapons we have on board. I suggest half of you join them and arm yourselves while the rest head to the main habitat and protect the livestock.” She then, however, faltered for a second after seeing the look on Steven’s face. The others disregarded her as the situation was quickly growing dire.

“Steven, you take Lapis, Pearl and Bismuth to the habitat! I’ll take the others to the barracks! We’ll join you whenever we can!”

 

Steven then began to run in the direction of the Zoo from what his memory told him, with Lapis, Bismuth, and Pearl running alongside him with Lion following suit. When the arrived outside the main habitat where two of the Amethysts also made on Earth stood guard, they immediately recognized him.

“Hey! You never told us you were Pink Diamond!” one of them jeered.

“Heh, I thought it was hilarious!” the other one commented, “Holly Blue almost threw herself into space when she found out!”

“Yeah, okay, that’s pretty funny, but there’s no time for that! Are the people okay?”

“Yeah, they’re totally fine.”

“Trust us, they won’t be for long,” said Lapis, “We need to go in and protect them.”

“If you say so…”

After a long process of opening the door and accessing the direct route into the habitat, the quartet of Crystal Gems and their feline companion found the room exactly as Steven left it; a tropical-paradise environment with a sparkling lake along with rolling hills under a glassy blue sky.

“Well, at least they haven’t trashed the place yet…” remarked Bismuth as they made their way inside. Steven took a look around, and sighed in relief, it seemed that Red Diamond’s forces hadn’t made it inside yet. 

“Hey, it’s Steven!” shouted a jubilant voice over the horizon, “He’s come back!”

“Oh no…” groaned the teenager.

Bismuth and Lapis were confused by his reaction until all of them were swarmed by the human habitants of the enclosure. They seemed happy to see Steven, though, it seemed that the feeling was only  _ partially  _ mutual. 

“Ste-van has returned! Everyone do cannonballs!”

“Is Ga-reg with you?”

“Does this mean you’re here for tonight’s Choosening?”

“Uhhhh…” said Lapis, “What the heck is wrong with these people?”

“Long story short, they were Pink Diamond’s...pets,” spoke Pearl with a queasy tone in her voice.

“When we get back, I’m taking a very long lava bath,” droned Bismuth after a brief, awkward pause. 

“Alright, back it up!” commanded one of the Famethyst, “These guys are just here to inspect the place! Give them some space!”

“What does ‘inspect’ mean?”

“Uh…” she went. Steven, on the other hand, did a facepalm.

He then recomposed himself, then spoke calmly, “We’re just here to look around to make sure everything is okay, is that alright?”

“Sure thing, Ste-van!”

“You’re so nice, Steven!”

“I’m sure the Little Voice misses you!”

And with that bit of awkwardness done, Steven along with his two new bodyguards and the other Gems examined every area they could find for any potential sign of Red Diamond. Be it some spying device, an undercover agent somewhere or even anything out of the ordinary. While Steven was happy to hear that the Famethysts were doing better thanks to Holly Blue becoming more humble, they did not find anything out of the ordinary.

“Well, I guess they must be in other parts of the station,” thought Lapis out loud.

“That or their preparing something bigger…” said Bismuth.

“Either way, we’ve all we can here. Let’s rendezvous with the others for now.”

As the quartet and Lion were escorted out of the enclosure by their helpful purple escorts, the humans gave them a cheery sendoff and invited “Ste-van” to return whenever he wished.

 

The other half of the Crystal Gems made their way down several hallways and several lifts in order to reach the barracks at the literal bottom of the space station. As they made the trip they were stopped numerous times by Red Diamond’s forces. Each time, though, they were shocked by how easy the opposition was. Despite signs indicating that there are multiple pods filled with Red’s mutated Gems storming the place, the foursome only ever fought low-caliber Gems with some basic armor added on and occasionally a tail. 

“Man, did she send all of the weaksauce Gems here?” asked Amethyst, “This is super easy!”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” thought Peridot, “Why launch a full-scale attack on an enemy stronghold and then use your weakest troop to perform the task?”

“Two reasons for that,” pointed out Jasper, “One, Red’s getting desperate and doesn’t have a choice.”

“How would you know?” asked Amethyst.

“I’m literally  _ built _ for war, runt, and that means strategy. I’m no leader like an Agate or an Emerald, but I’m not an idiot. And since we all know Red’s not short on resources, that rules out the first option.”

“And what’s the second option… ?” Amethyst said cautiously.

Before they could hear the answer, they reached their destination and saw two friendly Gems urging them onwards. The four rushed into the barrack doors as the Amethysts inside hurriedly shut the doors.

“Hey sisters, what’s up?” joked Amethyst, “Is there a fire or something?”

“Are you crazy?!” one of them shouted, “That ex-Diamond’s soldiers are everywhere! We need to hide!”

“Hide from what?” boasted Jasper, “The pebbles they threw at us were so easy that Pearl could beat them.”

Garnet, however, paid no mind to the blatant elitism and started inspecting the wall of weapons at their disposal. Along with several dozen handheld destabilizers, there were sleek metallic gadgets that she did not know how to operate.

Peridot, however, was thrilled. “Oh. My. CLOD! You guys have the molecular density modulator?! These were still in the testing stages when I last checked!” 

She happily picked up what looked like a silver numerical panel written in Gem language and started fiddling with the buttons before attaching it to her back. When she was done, she proceeded to run straight at the door locking them in the room and phased straight through it like she was a ghost.

“Holy smokes!” Amethyst said in shock as she and the others looked surprised.

Except for Garnet of course. “Okay, we are definitely keeping that one,” she admitted.

“And then we have several portable tractor-beam generators…” continued Peridot.

“Hey, that’s the freaky wand Aquamarine had when she came to Earth!”

To demonstrate how it worked, the techie twisted the ends of the rod and soon it was humming with power. With a minor flick of her wrist she summoned an ensnaring bubble of energy around one of the Famethyst.

“Hey, put me down!” she yelled, sounding genuinely angry, “That’s not some toy!”

“Alright, alright, don’t get your minerals in a twist…” One flick later the bubble was gone, but the burly Amethyst was not amused.

“Watch where you point that thing! We don’t want to attract any of Red Diamond’s forces!”

“Man, what gives, sister?” asked Amethyst, “Did that stuffy Agate lodge one of those huge boots up your butt or something?”

“‘Sister?’ What are you talking about?” asked Jasper, now just wanting to leave the room and punch something else.

“Oh yeah, all the Gems stationed here were made on Earth just like me! Which means they’re all your sister too!”

Jasper looked ready to flatten the shorter quartz for suggesting such a thing, but then the whole place shook again!

“That was the biggest one yet!” panicked one of the guards, “They just keep coming!”

“You seem awfully scared compared to last time,” remarked Garnet.

“Dudes, chill out!” said Amethyst, “What’s gotten into you?”

“I’ve got an idea…” grumbled Jasper as she ran for one of the destabilizers, quickly activated it and jabbed the electrifying weapon into one of the guards. She screamed in pain as the green-tinted lightning racked her body.

“What on Earth are you doing?!” shouted Peridot, only to be more surprised when the purple Gem  _ did not poof  _ from the weapon. Instead her body seemed to turn into liquid until her form began to change into something different. An eerily familiar magenta Gem…

“It’s a Spinel!” exclaimed Garnet, “This whole thing is a trap!”

“No, really?!” shouted Jasper as the other “Amethyst” dropped her act and just shifted back into her original form. 

“What did you do with the real ones?!” demanded Amethyst, becoming enraged in a few seconds, “Tell me!”

“Well, Red Diamond isn’t interested in these ordinary humans,” explained one of the shapeshifters as she sent a stretchy fist into Jasper’s face to free her comrade, “But she can always use more Gems for tests!”

Suddenly, Amethyst got tense, her mind registering what that MIGHT mean for the Famethysts…

And then she got so angry that even Jasper was impressed. “Touch them and you’re  _ cracked! _ ”

 

Meanwhile, on the upper levels of the ship, Steven’s group was making their way back to the main hub area of the ship when Holly Blue immediately came running up to them. 

“Pink Di-, I mean, Steven, we have an emergency! Some of my guards have gone missing!”

“Wait, what?! How’d you lose track of them?”

Holly Blue seemed to be in a state of panic, “Well pardon me if I have higher priorities in moments like this…”

“What’s a higher priority than keeping your own forces intact?!” shouted a thoroughly offended Pearl.

“Well, ensuring the place is not damaged, of course! Blue Diamond would have my stone if there was too much collateral and-”

She was cut off by a righteously angry Steven who dropped all pretenses of trying to be diplomatic and hoisted the stuffy Gem off the ground, much to everyone’s shock; Steven was usually  _ never  _ this aggressive.

“You’ve got  _ people  _ here! Dozens of innocent people who can’t defend themselves! If anything happened to them, Blue Diamond will  _ shatter  _ you and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t stop her then! Now we’re going to go back to people and protect them and you are going to come with us or I will put you in front of Blue myself! Got it?!”

If looks could kill, Holly Blue’s gem would be a pile of dust on the flow by now. “Y-Yes my Diamond!” she whimpered, easily intimidated. She offered no further resistance as Steven threw her onto Lion’s back and led the group back towards where they were when the largest tremor yet struck. Steven’s expression easily changed from one of frustration to one of concern.

Suddenly a thought struck him, “Wait. Guys, what if Red Diamond’s forces  _ aren’t _ here for the Humans…?”

“What?” Pearl asked, confused, “What do you mean, what else would there be here for her?”

Steven thought for a moment before his reached a conclusion, upon which made his blood run cold… “The Rose Quartz gems… The ones the Diamonds brought here.”

Before they could get much farther, though, they were already back in front of the enclosure. Rather than waiting for the two Famethysts to properly unlock the passageway inside, Lion took care of it for them by roaring a portal straight into the room where the hoard of gemstones was. There, they saw something that almost made Steven’s heart stop.

There were a group or Red’s forces, trying desperately to collect as many Rose Quartzes as possible. One of them was out of her bubble and was trying to escape, cowering from the soldiers trying to capture her, fear etched in her face. Her face… that was an exact match to Steven’s mother…

The group wasted no time leaping into the fray as the group of invaders. Lapis immediately flew up to stop the Gems leaping into the air trying to pop more of the bubbled gems while the rest stuck to the ground. Bismuth and Pearl had to contend with a wide array of normal Gems with the same armor enhancements as the ones the other groups faced plus a few Spinels, but this time they were ready. The two charged in side-by-side and felt a twinge of nostalgia for their days in the original Gem War. Lion also got in on the action pouncing on some unsuspecting mooks who quickly learned that angry pink felines are not to be trifled with. While clearly anxious, Holly Blue proved a capable fighter with her electrified whip as she trapped several intruders before zapping them back into their stones.

That left Steven with trying to get to the cowering copy of his mother as several Gems were eager to stand in his way. They quickly realized that was a terrible idea as the boy charged forward with his sword in one hand slashing with frightening proficiency while his shield stopped anything that could remotely hurt him. Several quickly defeated Gems later and Steven was in front of the doppelganger of his mother. Although she was wearing the typical bodysuit of a quartz soldier as opposed to Rose’s signature giant dress, the resemblance unnerved him. 

“Hey, it’s okay…” he assured as he reached out a hand to the horrified woman, “I’m here to help you.”

The Rose Quartz took it, but was obviously still shaken by her surroundings. “Y-Yes…” she said nervously, “Thank you. Whoever you are.”

Steven had to literally fight the urge to call this new Gem “Mom” and started leading her to the open door. He was not sure what to do with this one, but it felt inherently wrong to shove her back in a bubble and just sit here for eternity. The other Gems successfully held them back and managed to bubble some of the intruders while the rest made a hasty retreat. Once they all regrouped, though, they had something else to contend with once they were alone.

“Steven?” asked an  _ extremely  _ flustered Pearl, “Who is that?!”

“Oh, come now, you can’t be that thick,” chastised Holly Blue, “That’s one of the Rose Quartz gems that was enclosed here. How she got out is surprising, but it’ll be easy to-”

“We are  _ not  _ putting her back,” affirmed Lapis, knowing how it felt to be held trapped, “She doesn’t deserve to just… be here as some exhibit.”

“I totally get that…” agreed Bismuth, though she looked noticeably uncomfortable, “But even I think this might be a problem later.”

Steven nodded nervously, only for a part of the nearby wall to be rammed through, obviously someone just blew a hole in it. And as if the devil himself was jinxing them, the first gem to walk out of the freshly made hole in the wall was none other than Red’s Pearl. “Ah,” she said in her creepily calm voice, “Hello again, Steven.” 

“OH COME ON!” shouted Bismuth, “What else is there?! Let me guess, White Diamond’s gonna turn evil again, right?!

The deranged, servant gem merely frowned, saying, “How… hilarious…” She then turned to Steven, “Amazing isn’t it Steven? Of all the Gem types your mother would’ve disguised herself into, she picked a Quartz, a Rose Quartz even. Isn’t it… curious…? And now, my Diamond requests ACTUAL Rose Quartzes to proceed with her key projects. It seems like… what do you humans call it? ‘Fate’?”

“What is up with you?!” shouted Steven, “Why do you keep doing this?!”

“Oh, I believe that’s quite apparent, Steven. Red Diamond was looking to expand her studies and needed physical specimens of Rose Quartz gems. Even then, though, she had a hunch Blue Diamond would get you involved. That’s why she ‘accidentally’ let one of her messages be intercepted.”

“What?! This whole was a trap?” said Lapis.

“Oh, no, there was no guarantee that you'd be here, but if you were it would be another opportunity to acquire your unique body for further progress. If not then Red Diamond could acquire many things such as the last Rose Quartzes in the galaxy, the humans here for more organic material and perhaps test subjects/potential hostages in the Amethyst guards that also come from your home planet.”

Steven’s head was spinning after hearing that. No matter what she did, Red Diamond would get something out of this. She banked on how he and Blue Diamond would leap into action and even if they did not she would reap rewards from everything else the zoo had.

“Now then,” continued the eerie assistant as she pulled a bright red halberd from her gemstone, “My Diamond might be willing to call off her forces if you surrender.”

Steven didn’t even hesitate with his answer as he raised his shield cautiously, “No. 

“Really? You, of all beings, would ignore diplomacy? It seems rather contradictory to your mother-”

Before she could finish, she was cut off by Steven’s own Pearl, running into her at maximum speed and landing a hit in the face. 

“Don’t you  _ ever  _ talk about her!” she yelled before proceeding to show why she was  _ the  _ famous renegade Pearl that made Homeworld so afraid. She summoned a spear in the blink of an eye and landed several hits before her red opponent finally managed to defend herself.

The room soon devolved into a battleground again as the others all joined in along with a swarm of soldiers that Red Pearl brought as backup. 

 

Meanwhile, on her ship, Blue Diamond was watching the scene with growing anxiety. She tried contacting the other Diamonds for help, but that was a dead end as all of their channels were jammed somehow. Turns out Red Diamond also figured out how to disrupt communication signals in her spare time…

This left her growing more and more worried as the invading pods had successfully chased off her forces and thus all of them were piling into the station with nothing to stop them. She felt her emotions start to get the better of her before her Pearl spoke up.

“Pardon me, My Diamond, but I am receiving a special transmission for you.”

“What? From one of the Diamonds?!” she dared to hope.

“Yes… but you are not going to like it. I apologize in advance for any discomfort you feel.”

Blue was confused by this and now was more curious than nervous. However, one the holo-screen appeared, the nervousness became pure dread as the smug visage of Red Diamond herself was in front of her.

“Hello there, Blue. it’s been so long, hasn’t it?”

Blue looked at the face with contempt, “Red Diamond. I’m surprised you decided to lead this personally.”

“Oh, it merely seemed fitting,” shrugged the mad scientist, “This will be the closest I get to our dearly departed Pink Diamond now that she’s gone.”

“Don’t you DARE act like you care about her! You treated her horrendously before we banished you and-”

“And is that any different from you? Thrusting expectations on her? Forcing her to conform to traditions? Punishing and chastising her all because she wanted to explore her own path?”

Red Diamond’s confident sneer started to turn into genuine anger as she continued.

“And that’s not the only Gem you’ve hurt in your time. The infallibly wise Gem solely responsible for all legal matters in our empire and she spends her spare time blubbering worse than a pebble and wasting all her time moping about the galaxy!”

“I realize what I did was wrong!” rebutted the monarch, “And I still cannot express my guilt for all I’ve done to Pink…”

“I don’t mean just Pink, you imbecile! I’m referring to the  _ trillions  _ of Gems you’ve sentenced to execution for the minorest of offences! Anything outside your paradigm is thrown away and discarded, and that disgusts me to my core! Even Black was just as blind as you are! He claims to understand exile and isolation, the self-exile  _ you  _ pushed him into by the way, and yet he still follows your ideals!”

Blue let the harsh words sink in and did not interrupt as Red’s tirade continued.

“Your supposedly perfect empire has one crucial weakness you don’t recognize: scarcity. Eventually you  _ will  _ run out of resources and you will have  _ nowhere  _ to go. And why is our race doomed to this? All because of you Diamonds turning your noses up at new ideas for the sake of useless ‘purity’ and ‘traditions’! You call me mad?! What kind of madness is it to doom your entire species for nothing?!”

Blue’s head was as low as it could be and tears ran freely down her face. This meant her Pearl was forced to cry as well as Red Diamond settled down and regained some of her usual composure.

“Now then, while you wallow in self-pity, I will be gathering resources to  _ save  _ all of Gemkind from extinction. I hope something I’ve said has gotten through that impenetrable ego of yours. That will be all.”

And with that, the transmission was done and the fearsome monarch was indeed left to stew in her emotions. The comments about Pink Diamond stung especially strong as Steven pointed out the exact same thing. It was her stubbornness and prejudice that eventually shoved Pink out of her life.

She lifted her head and looked once more at the Human Zoo, arguably the last remnant of her deceased sister, and saw all of the pods clinging to its surface. The more she looked, the more she thought of all that was at stake. The Gems within, including the collection of Rose Quartzes, the memories it held, Steven…

He was still there! All at once Blue realized Steven was in there, outnumbered by Red’s forces and if that message was any indication, was in there with Red Diamond herself!

Blue shut her eyes as she felt all of the sorrow she had become so used to feeling melt away as searing anger flooded her. Her tears stopped as she looked one last time at the zoo, her entire vision turning red.

“My Diamond?” asked her Pearl, almost trembling as she felt her master’s anger, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to prove her wrong.”

With that she marched through her vessel until she reached the main port in the palm of the ship’s hand. The port was of course closed as the vessel was in flight, but that did not stop her. She placed both her hands onto the door and with one mighty heave the metal gave way as if it was not there. A massive rush of air began blowing out of the ship and into the vacuum of space, but it did not budge her. Instead she took one massive leap and flew out of the hand like a missile. The lethal cold barely fazed her as she propelled herself towards the base with another mighty thrust of her legs. She rocketed straight towards the main entrance and like a comet she crashed headfirst into the entryway. The impact felt like a light blow to the head to her. 

 

Meanwhile, Steven and company were still brawling with Red Pearl and her forces. Despite being harshly outnumbered, the group was holding their own against Red’s soldiers. However, as they continued and were getting boxed in by the gaggle of Gems surrounding them, they all shared a sickening feeling that they were being played with. It was less like the opposition saw this as a serious battle and more of an amusement. The three Crystal Gems, Lion and even Holly Blue stood in a circle cornered by a pack of flunkies that did not seem to be remotely afraid that anything could hurt them. For every one Gem they managed to pick off, another three seemed to take her place.

 

The only exception was Steven as he was left to Red Pearl. She seemed intrigued by the physical changes he underwent since their last encounter on Earth. Like the troops under her command, she treated this less like a genuine fight and more like a controlled experiment as she stayed in her regular form.

Red made the first move by lunging at him with her halberd, but it was easily blocked by his shield. She then leapt into the air and tried to get behind him, but he was one step ahead of her by flinging his shield in order to attack her mid-flight. She swiftly dodged the projectile, but what she did not see was him coming around behind her with another shield in hand and swinging it with enough force to knock her off her feet. 

“So… Your changes are not just cosmetic,” spoke Red Pearl, “Your agility and strength have been increased substantially.”

Rather than respond, Steven stood his ground and waited for her to continue. She then, much to his surprise, switched weapons as her polearm changed into an odd sword with a wavy curved blade. 

With this new blade in hand, Red ran poised to run him through only to find he had swiftly moved out of the way. She twisted on her heels to stick him, but he surprised her again by grabbing her wrist and forcing her to release her grip. With her briefly disarmed, Steven brought out his own sword and tried to end the fight with a decisive blow. She instead summoned a replacement sword and blocked before she could be damaged and leapt away to safety.

“Oh my, you’ve also become more confident! I was led to believe you were against fighting, hm?”

This time Steven took the initiative and ran forward with a bubble surrounding him. While put off by the maneuver, Red Pearl flung herself to the side as he barreled through right where she had been standing. That was not enough to lose him, though, as he simply turned and tried again to run her over with his makeshift tank. Pass after pass happened, with Steven even taking the opportunity to bowl over the few stragglers who tried to break away from the others and attack him instead, until Red Pearl decided she had enough toying around.

Her gem began to glow as her body was engulfed by a blinding light and her form rapidly changed. While it seemed to be the same four-armed monstrosity as last time, a few differences were quickly apparent once her body became visible. For one, her tail now had a massive stinger at the end of it that looked like it could pierce steel. Her legs now had an odd metallic sheen to them as if they had been replaced with robotic copies. She had the same four clawed arms, but now there was a gaping hole in each of her palms. The most surprising change, however, was her face as she now had three rows of eyes sitting on top of the other. 

“Okay… That’s new…” gulped Steven as he now looked at the massive opponent he was now facing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what is that, about four or five cliffhangers in one? Another benefit is leaving the audience wanting TWICE as much! Hahahaha!


	14. Battles

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for a LOT of action!

Red Pearl, in her transformed state, aimed her new stinger right at Steven. Thinking fast, and with some panic, the hybrid managed to sidestep to safety at the last second, the stinger sliding right past his face. As he managed to narrowly avoid having a heart attack, Steven realized that his day has officially gotten weirder.

He did not have long to reflect on that, however, before the monster charged straight at him. He leapt into the air to avoid her, but was surprised again when she raised two of her arms and suddenly saw two massive blasts of air shoot out from the holes on her palms.

“Seriously?!” he exclaimed as he summoned a bubble around himself, being pushed back several feet from that blast instead of getting a face full of razor-sharp air.

The other Crystal Gems in the room saw the confrontation and, wanting to assist Steven, tried to power through the ring of Red’s forces that still surrounded them. Lapis tried flying above them, but only got met with an onslaught of opponents leaping into the air and forcing her back down. Eventually, though, Lion got fed up with the situation and just summoned a portal. 

“Alright, that’s perfect!” cheered Bismuth, only to be surprised when Lion leapt through the gate himself and it promptly shut behind him.

“Steven, you need to train him better when we get back!” reprimanded Pearl as she found three overly eager Gems stalking towards her.

“Little busy here!” replied the boy as tried retreating only to find no matter how far he got, Red Pearl was literally on top of him. 

 

Meanwhile, in one of the lower parts of the base, Garnet’s group was still trying to rendezvous with the others. The problem was that Red Diamond planned for the occasion and thus sent a bulk of her forces to keep them downstairs and clog the hallways so much they could not proceed.

On the plus side, it seemed her plans to sabotage the weapons in the station’s barracks failed which meant the group was able to get some extra help.

“BONZAI!” shouted Amethyst as she, wearing a molecular density modulator (Which she called the MDM for short) leapt into the wall and reappeared behind the group and started drawing their attention. She managed to get several of their foes to chase her down the hallway and left the other three to their own devices.

Garnet and Jasper both wielded handheld destabilizers and, despite the animosity between them, proved a rather devastating force as they zapped enemy after enemy into submission. That left Peridot with the gravity wand as she happily flung helpless mooks into walls, the ceiling, and each other and treated the entire thing like some surreal game as opposed to a tense battle.

“Now I see why they restricted these things!” cackled the overjoyed techie as she twirled a captive Gem over her head like a lasso, “With one of these in my possession, Homeworld would be doomed!” She threw in an evil laugh as she sent her hapless plaything flying. With that kind of force, the unlikely trio cleared their path and made their way down the hall to find Amethyst surrounded by gemstones she was quickly bubbling.

“Ha! These rocks are too easy,” she said, “Give me a real challenge!” 

“Watch your mouth,” warned Jasper, “This  _ is _ still too easy. She may have numbers now, but why are they all lightweights?”

“That’s a good point,” agreed Garnet, “All of these look like normal Gems instead of those awful experiments she uses.”

“Either way,” interjected Peridot, “We’ve got nothing stopping us from reuniting with the others and ensuring that clod of a Diamond doesn’t get her touch stubs on any of the humans here.”

The four ran off back up the various levels, taking out the few stray Gems they ran into along the way, until the reached the main room. When they did not spot any of the others in the group, they headed to the main enclosure and found two of the Famethyst still guarding the entryway.

“Hey, look who it is!” cheered one of them, “It’s our favorite shortstack!”

“Oh thank goodness you two are real!” said Amethyst as she and others reached the door, “The last ones were imposters!”

“What?!” replied the other guard, “You mean someone’s been sending in fakes?”

“Considering the fact that we’re armed with high-grade Gem weaponry and that your base is still under attack, I’d say so,” said Peridot, “Now we need to be in that enclosure and ensure that the humans here have not been captured.”

As the group was let into the room they learned that the other half of their group did come by here twice, but Lion sent them somewhere else at the last moment. Before they could ponder that too much, the way to the enclosure was open and they found the place was deserted.

“They aren’t here,” grumbled Jasper, “What, did they all get captured already?”

“Doubtful,” said Garnet, “From what Steven said about them, they don’t cope with anything. They’re all probably hiding until the battle calms down.”

"Hm… perhaps..." said Peridot, in thought only to be interrupted as they heard a sneeze off in the distance. With the obvious cue, the Crystal Gems along with the friendly Amethysts made their way and found half a dozen people huddled behind a rock.

“Well, that was easy.” 

“What is making that awful noise?!” whispered one of the humans to the Famethyst, only to stumble back when he noticed the other strange Gems, “And who are you?!”

“Relax, we’ve come to help,” assured Garnet, “We’re friends with Steven.”

“Really?! You know Ste-van?”

“Oh you can’t be serious…” moaned Jasper, disgusted by the cowardice in front of her, but Garnet hushed her and kept going.

“Yes, but Steven isn’t here right now. He wanted us to check up on you to make sure you’re all safe.”

"Aw,” one of the humans said, "That's so nice of him!"

“And you can help us,” she continued, “If you get all your friends in one place. That way we can watch over you and make sure nothing bad happens.”

The people seemed to like the thought and thus went off to find the others. While they were noticeably jittery thanks to the unfamiliar situation, they managed regardless and eventually about forty people clad in identical indigo tribal-esque outfits were grouped in front of the Crystal Gems.

"Alright," she proceeded, "That's everyone, right?"?”

“Looks like it,” said one of the Famethysts.

“You don’t sound too confident,” noticed Jasper.

“What? We’re told to only come here when one of them gets injured and stay out otherwise. Besides, they do some really  _ weird  _ things in here…”

“Is Ste-van coming back?” asked one of the women of the group, raising her hand like a child in class.

"Steven will be checking up on you after a little while," Garnet replied, adjusting her shades as she did so. Some of the humans smiled warmly at this news. “Now we all just need to stay here so nothing bad happens.”

And so, like a happy classroom of children, the people sat together and waited for their friend to come back. With the reassurance of  _ Ste-van’s _ return, they were content even if the little voice that normally guided them was still quiet.

 

Red Diamond had to hand it to the architects behind the Human Zoo, they did an impressive job. When she would inevitably remodel the place like she would with the rest of the Gem Empire once she had her way, she would credit the original designers. On top of being visually pleasing, it also made another part of her plan easier.

The demented matriarch was in another chamber in the zoo itself, idly waiting as her forces stormed the place. Her room was much like the one where the Rose Quartzes she was after were stored and judging from the multiple murals depicting the fallen Pink Diamond, she put together this was a sort of shrine. One that she would discard since there would be no need for it once she was in charge… 

She then looked down at the translucent red dome containing the majority of the Gem guards. The various Amethysts and Jaspers were clearly searching for a way out, collaborating on an escape when they were not throwing insults at the Diamond before them. While her kin may have been annoyed by their defiance, Red actually thought it was highly amusing. Just as she started to wonder how she would modify them once she was done here, something caught her attention.

A deafening bang rang out, coming from outside the room. Judging from the five-foot wide dent in the metal, it looked like someone punched it. Another dent to match appeared right next to it and another and another until finally the Diamond-sized door fell away with a massive clang.

“Of course you’d be in here,” snarled an extremely angry Blue Diamond.

“Well, I’ll be!” replied Red casually, “You actually took the initiative for a change.”

Blue looked at the hostages, the back to Red, "Let them go… and leave this place!" 

“Oh and why would I logically do that?” she asked, “I was just about to send the ransom notice to Steven and I think he’d like to know what’s happened to all these helpless Gems. Would you really deny him the chance to save innocent lives?”

“Is that what other Gems are to you?! Just pawns to be used in your power struggle?!”

“Oh no, I assure that if he doesn’t collect them I will put them to excellent use. Much better use than maintaining this obsolete relic…”

The two Diamonds stared eye to eye, neither one flinching, until Blue’s head suddenly looked downwards.

“Oh and what a surprise, you’re about to start crying. Perhaps you’d be able to overcome your grief if you stopped making these monuments to Pink and just moved on already and-”

Before she could finish, Blue Diamond suddenly rushed at her at breakneck speed and dealt a heavy blow at Red's gut, causing the maniacal Diamond to stagger in pain and surprise! 

“You talk too much…” 

As the captive Gems cheered at seeing Red get blindsided, Blue Diamond sent a punch straight at Red’s face and forced her back again. Before she could get a third hit, though, Red stopped her fist and glared at her.

“Really?! You think  _ you _ , the most passive Diamond of all, can defeat me?”

“I may not be much of a fighter,” grunted Blue as the Diamonds locked hands and began pushing against each other, “But if there’s one thing Steven’s made me realize…”

Suddenly Blue let go and sent her foot straight into Red’s torso and forced her against the wall. “Is that I can change!”

Red face twisted into one of frustration, she then stood back up, her hands began to glow as she did so. "Oh is that so? Well, let's find out if you can!" 

A searing blast of energy flew from her hands, forcing Blue to duck as it made a dent in the wall. Once she straightened up, Blue sent her own blast at only for it to be dodged as well. They each leapt to opposite sides of the massive chamber with the Famethysts watching in awe as they each started shooting rapid-fire blasts at each other. Every time Blue’s smoother looking shots met Red’s fiery ones a purple explosion rang out until suddenly Red raced forward and grabbed Blue by her hair.

She proceeded to yank her head down while also gripping her dress with her other hand and then literally threw Blue Diamond into the wall. Rather than stay embedded in the pink crystal, Blue just yanked herself out and sent a flurry of fists. It only stopped when she decided to sweep Red’s legs and send the mad scientist tumbling. Before she could get up, though, a wave of intense sadness overtook her. The room was literally being filled by a blue cloud causing the captive Gems to start bawling uncontrollably as Blue stood over her opponent.

“I’m surprised you can feel this, Red, given how you are. Ever since you showed up all you ever felt was ambition. We tried to reason with you, find a solution, or even just compromise so we could all get along.”

“That’s a lie! You wanted me to shut down my experiments or be exiled! Where’s the compromise there?!”

“You were experimenting on innocent Gems just doing their jobs, Red. You can claim how it’s all for the betterment of us, but that doesn’t change how unethical it is. You take Gems and force them be some monstrosity all for what? ‘Progress?’ And you think that’s worth it?”

“Don’t you  _ dare  _ lecture me, you murderer! How many Gems did you sentence to death?! You almost did the same to Steven and all for some paltry revenge!”

“You’re right…” admitted Blue, “I’ve done horrible things to Gems who may not have deserved them. I’m just as responsible as the others for chasing Pink away and now I’ll never be able to make things right.”

Blue then forced Red onto her feet and stared her in the eye. “This mourning you feel? This is how I’ve spent the past few  _ millennia _ and I’m still not done. This pain will never go away fully, but now I know one thing. As much as I miss Pink and as much as I hate some of the things I’ve said and done, I hate you  _ even more _ .”

Blue then filled her hand with energy and sent it point-blank into Red’s stomach. As her foe stumbled, she did it again as her anger built. Again and again she rammed blast after blast into her until Red toppled and laid helplessly on the floor.

“I may be emotional, and that’s hurt me before, but now I’ll use it to actually make progress. Little by little I’ll keep improving, but you’ll refuse to change. It’s pretty pathetic, actually.”

“Pathetic…?” muttered Red under her breath, “Did you just…call me pathetic?!”

Suddenly, Red lifted herself off the ground. A powerful red aura surrounded her body as she started to tense. Blue was unsure of what was happening, but she got noticeably worried when she saw this new aura start to overpower her own.

“I’LL SHOW YOU PATHETIC!” screamed Red as her face was contorted with rage. Her aura quite literally exploded, waves of energy sending cracks along the walls and pushing Blue back. Blue was only just barely able to recover as Red rushed at her with murderous intent in her eyes. Just as she was going to claw at her, Blue was just barely able to grab at her arms and fling her to the side. Red immediately recovered, though, and rushed at her again. All the careful calculating and cocky remarks were gone as Blue frantically dodged as best as she could. Meanwhile, the captive Famethysts were starting to genuinely hope the force field around them is as indestructible as Red Diamond advertised. They would much rather be prisoners at this point than be caught in this madness.

 

Steven meanwhile had his hands full dealing with Red Pearl. After managing to get the gem monstrosity off of him, she then used her tail to slam him against the wall several feet away! Thankfully he was just barely able to cushion the blow with a bubble that threatened to pop from the impact. 

He knew he could not defend forever, but what could he do against something like this? He did not have much time to think as the monstrous Gem took an enormous leap into the air. As the mutated pearl rapidly started to fall, her metallic legs began to change until they were two massive blades pointed right at him. Steven, in a second of panic, held out his shield, expanding it to five times its normal size, turning it into a massive barrier. The Pearl smirked, thinking she would tear right through it, only to be bounce off it harmlessly. While she shifted her legs back to normal, she was still confused. How did that stop her?

“Man, Steven,” admitted Bismuth, “I knew I made that thing well, but now you’re just showing off!”

Hearing the blacksmith gave Steven an idea. Even now, he doubted to could fight this thing alone but he needed to get that gaggle of Gems away from his family. When Red Pearl came at him again, he leapt into the air and plunged straight into the circle. The enemy group was confused and it gave him the perfect opportunity to use his sword and poof a few of them before they could react. With this on their sides, the others were reinvigorated and even Holly Blue seemed grateful until they all managed to rejoin into one group. 

“Impressive thinking, Steven,” praised Pearl, “Now we’ve got a much better chance against this monstrosity!”

“Could you maybe bring Lion back, though?” asked Lapis, still feeling some anxiety as the remainder of Red’s smaller droogs gathered behind them.

“Sorry, but I don’t know where he went,” admitted the boy, “But knowing him, he’ll come back.”

“How do you all cope with this insanity?” asked a very confused Holly Blue.

“Fighting no matter what is exactly what the Crystal Gems are all about!” boasted Bismuth as she charged straight at Red Pearl with an axehead for a hand.

 

Speaking of the big pink furball, he was currently running down a hall when suddenly, he used his roar to open a portal! He landed inside the forcefield holding the Famethysts hostage, much to the group’s surprise.

Before any of them could shout and blow his cover, though, he simply open a portal and gestured towards it as if saying,  _ Here’s the way out. Scram! _

While that was happening, the two Diamonds were still tussling. After Red’s first explosion, she managed to regain some of her usual composure but not all of it. She still seemed to be aiming to kill as she lobbed energy blasts all over the room, several holes in the walls showing where she missed, when she was not trying to beat the other matriarch into oblivion. Blue, meanwhile, kept her calm the entire time and was focused more on defense and only retaliating when she saw an opening. Given her lack of fighting experience, she knew the last thing she needed was to waste energy.

The duo met in a flurry of attacks, Blue deflecting as much as she could while Red hammered away at her defenses. While she managed to get some hits in, it also left her open when Blue grabbed her by the arm and threw her into the floor.

The two Diamonds finally stopped, catching their breath as they felt all the fight drain out of them. Despite their obscene strength and power, neither of them were made for direct combat.

“This is over, Red…” huffed Blue, “You’ve lost…”

“Is that what you think?” griped Red, “I still have many advantages over you…”

She then pulled a strange-looking red cube out of her hair and crushed it in her hand, sending a wave of energy through the room.

“What was that? What did you just do?!” yelled Blue.

“Oh, you didn’t think I didn’t have a few surprises in store for you?” she snarked back, regaining her usual cockiness, “Now then… I’ll be taking my hostages and leaving.”

Blue looked upset before she glanced behind the megalomaniac… and started laughing.

“What? What’s so funny?! Is me kidnapping Gems from your precious Earth a joke to you?!”

“What Gems? I don’t see any in there.”

Red turned around, fuming, until she laid eyes on the force field. The force field with  _ absolutely nothing in it _ . Every single Gem inside just disappeared without a trace! Blue could not help but laugh her head off as she saw her foe get completely duped.

Red, however, had a look of silent rage on her face at this deceit. “You… You…”

“Oh, I wish I did, but no, it looks like Steven’s more resourceful than you thought.

“Well then, let’s see how resourceful he, his paltry team and the ordinary Gems you have stationed here like fighting my forces with nothing holding them back!”

And with that, Red Diamond raised her arms and summoned a warp stream around herself to return to her ship. 

 

Speaking of Steven, he and the rest of the group were actually doing fairly well. The troops were easy to manage, allowing some of the other Gems to help Steven fight off Red Pearl. 

Bismuth, seeing this slowly growing advantage said, "Ha! Is this the best you can do!" 

However, it seemed as though her question was answered as the remaining Gems began to glow faintly for a few seconds.

"Uh… what's going on?" said Lapis, worried as to what that glow might mean. She had a good cause for alarm as Red Pearl’s allies started changing. Suddenly they were not surrounded by standard-issue Gems, but by the bizarre, experimental creatures! No two were alike with each one having a different number of limbs, heads and possessing a series of nasty surprises. 

“What in the world?!” shouted Holly Blue as one Gem lashed out her tongue and grappled her arm.

“Looks like Red Diamond’s officially stopped going easy on us,” said Pearl as she was being cornered by two extremely muscular Rubies that were almost twice her size.

Bismuth had to pretty much tackle the Gem holding Holly Blue with their tongue in order to release her. Lapis on the other hand went to help Pearl Deal with the two huge Rubies, just barely pulling them pack with a stream of water. “I got your back Pearl!”

“Thanks!” Pearl then looked at Steven’s fight and saw that he was still having some trouble. A trio of Spinels, each of a different size and shape, were ganging up on Steven and granting Red Pearl some backup. One of them was actually able to dodge or parry all of Steven’s attacks while the other two were able to land some blows of their own, striking the hybrid with oversized fists. “ _ Steven _ !” she said in shock. Her maternal instincts overrode all logic as she charged forward, bowling over any Gem getting in her way and was at his side.

“Get away from him, you abominations!” she shouted as the two were surrounded.

“Pearl, are you sure about this?” asked a wary Steven, panting slightly from exhaustion.

“Are you back-sassing me, young man?!” yelled Pearl in her sternest voice.

“Nope! Happy for the help!”

“Good, because the last thing I’m ever doing is letting you get hurt again.”

“Same here for you. But I don’t see a way out of this… Unless…”

“What?” 

Steven then gave her a confident look, then she realized what he meant, “Oh. Well, I… Okay, let’s do this!”

Steven then set up a large gem bubble in the form of a dome. “Let’s hurry,” he said beginning to concentrate. After a second, his gem began to glow through his shirt. Pearl began to focus as well, her gemstone also glowing as a result. Much to the bewilderment of their opponents, the two began to dance. While Pearl’s was a refined ballet that was pure grace, Steven’s was a more chaotic and less coordinated mix that borrowed from multiple genres that he perused through the internet. As different as they looked, though, they moved to the same rhythm that grew until they met in the middle in what appeared to be a hug.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and the bubble disintegrated into shards of light. In place of Steven and Pearl stood a single figure holding a bright pink umbrella...

They were slightly taller than Pearl and had an athletic figure like Steven, only more slim. They also had literal pink skin and hair that shifted from pink to a lighter purple with some lighter blue thrown in. This new figure wore a teal jacket that slowly changed to pink going down the sleeves and torso along with a cropped black t-shirt that was black with the same star from Steven’s shirt. Completing the ensemble was a pair of dark blue cropped jeans that went down to below the knee and a pair of simple, laceless shoes.

But the oddest thing about this person was the literal four eyes on their face! A pair of wide, brightly-colored ones sat on top of a darker, narrower pair. The final touch was the two polychromatic gemstones on their body, a round one on the forehead and a hexagonally cut one in place of a navel. 

As the new fusion settled, the room was silent. The enemy forces were interested, mildly amused as to what this new figure was capable of, but the Crystal Gems were more enthusiastic.

“Oh ho, now you clods are in trouble!” boasted Bismuth, “Rainbow Quartz is here!”

“Yeah…” admitted an unusually smug Lapis, “You shouldn’t have done that.”

The only exception was Holly Blue who looked ready to vomit at the sight, but she kept her mouth shut. 

“Hello there!” greeted the new fusion, standing under their umbrella like it was a casual meeting, “I am Rainbow Quartz 2.0, but you may call me Rainbow for convenience’s sake. While I am quite capable of defeating you all, I would much prefer to simply resolve our little spat with words. Any takers?”

The group of Spinels looked at the flamboyant new Gem and laughed at the suggestion. One of them then decided to launch a punch straight into Rainbow’s face just to silence them…

...And missed by a country mile. The Gem was now standing behind them as if nothing happened.

“Oh dear… It looks like I’m going to have to get colorful. More so than usual anyway…” tittered the fusion as they closed their umbrella…

Only for part of the handle to glow a bit. They pulled at it, and suddenly a sword came out! The umbrella had a hidden katana in it!

The fusion was suddenly  _ very _ serious. Then Rainbow moved swiftly, poofing the Spinel they dodged in one swift slash! 

“Just remember this is all your doing…” they whispered before leaping into the air straight at Red Pearl with the sword ready to strike. The monstrous Gem immediately dodged and readied one of her hands to blow them away, only to find Rainbow jumping in mid-air and sending a kick straight into her face. The kick sent her head reeling back, but that was not the end of it as the fusion’s feet flew at a breakneck speed. Blow after blow rained down on the Pearl before she roared in defiance and sent her stinger to impale the fusion. She failed not because she missed, but because Rainbow Quartz used their umbrella to deflect the blow.

A few mutant Gems had the idea to ambush the fusion while they were distracted, but that proved to be a fruitless effort as Rainbow just dodged everything they tried and quickly struck them all down. 

Each of the Crystal Gems were all shocked at this display of power and skill. Even Holly Blue, despite still being thoroughly disgusted by the fusion, was genuinely impressed by their capabilities. Red Pearl however, was angered, and immediately tried to slash Rainbow with her tail, only for the fusion to easily parry her attack with their sword and umbrella! After leaping back a few feet, they said, “Alright… where were we?” before brandishing their sword again, ready to fight back.

However, despite this, and the dead stare Red Pearl seem to give them, she then began to shapeshift to her regular form, much to everyone’s surprise! 

“Well then,” spoke the Pearl once she was fully regressed, “It seems we are both full of surprises.”

“Wait, that’s it?” asked Lapis, “You’re just giving up?”

“For now, yes, but that’s only because My Diamond has many plans in the works at once. She is a level of brilliant above all of you and-”

“You keep talking like that,” interrupted Bismuth, “And I’m gonna kick your butt! Spit it out!”

“As cliche as it might sound, this won’t be the last you’ll see of us. Perhaps we will test the power of more of your fusions next time, Steven.”

Red Pearl then warped herself out of the room, but the rest of the her allies stayed. 

“Hm, some commanding officer,” criticized Holly Blue, “Even I wouldn’t just abandon my subordinates.”

“Then we should stay alert,” advised Rainbow, “And once this whole song and dance is done, we can get to more fun affairs. Shall we rendezvous with the others, then?”

“Odds are, they’re all back in the habitat,” said Bismuth, “Let’s go!”

The group charged off with Rainbow Quartz taking the lead, literally blazing the trail by flying on their umbrella at breakneck speeds. With some of the immediate seriousness gone, the fusion was grinning giddily as they zoomed through the corridors. Even with Red Diamond’s forces chasing after the group, clearly still eager for battle, the Crystal Gems felt more optimistic than ever.

 

Compared to the chaos going on in the chamber with the Rose Quartz gems, the habitat was still peaceful. That all changed, though, when a strange red wave suddenly swept through the room.

“What was that?!” said one of the humans.

“I’m scared!”

“Where’s Steven now?!”

“Everyone, calm down!” spoke Garnet reassuringly, “I can assure you he’s on his way. Just remain calm until then.”

However, now the humans were thoroughly spooked. Fear started taking hold of them and soon many of them were begging the little voice to tell them everything would be alright. 

“Oh, perfect,” groaned Peridot, “Now they’ll all start behaving irrationally.”

“Yeah, your people skills still kinda stink,” quipped Amethyst, “And Jasper’s about as cuddly as rabies, so she’s no help here.”

“I heard that!” snapped the orange Gem.

“Yeah, I know, but it’s true.”

“Cool it,” said Garnet, “Just let me handle this.” before walking up to the group and trying to resolve situation.

“Okay, everyone, I know you’re all really scared, but I need you to do one thing for me.”

She then held up a destabilizer in her hand and turned it on. 

“I need you to poke yourself with this, one at a time. Trust me, it’s a present Steven wanted you to have.”

The group of humans was wary, but hearing it was from one of their friends put them at ease. The first one of the group took hold of the device and poked himself in the stomach, causing a series of yellow sparks to run through his body. The others all gasped in horror, only to be amazed when the man turned out to be totally fine.

“Wow, that was neat!” he cheered, “Ste-van is the greatest!”

Jasper looked at him weirdly, stunned that he actually liked it, but chose to shrug it off and watched the device go to the next human. This one, a dark-haired woman, took it and went through the same, gigging that the funny lights tickled. The third one, though, seemed very reluctant.

“W-wait… I don’t want to!” he exclaimed as he backed away. At that point Jasper put up a sick grin. 

“What’s the matter?” she asked brandishing her own device, “Afraid of a little shock?”

The man merely took another step back, looking frightened at the object in her hand. This got a few of the Gems suspicious. They silently formed a circle around the man until he finally dropped to the ground and begged for help.

“I want Steven!” he screamed, getting many of the other people to feel sorry for him. The Gems were less sympathetic.

 “I thought his name was ‘Ste-van’ to you all?” asked Jasper cockily before jamming the device into the man. Unlike the others, he screamed in pain until he leapt twenty feet into the air. When ‘he’ landed, there was a magenta Gem with a very angry expression on her face, shocking the real humans who were there.

“You need to get better at keeping your cover,” taunted Garnet before turning to the two Famethysts, “Get the real humans far away. We’ll handle this one.”

“Did you really think I was in here alone?” responded the now angered Spinel. Nine of the other humans suddenly changed into more Spinels and formed an elastic chain ensnaring them all.

“What the!?” exclaimed Amethyst, “You guys are sick! First you kidnap the Famethysts, now you’ll use them as hostages?!”

“What can we say,” boasted one of the Spinels, “We’ve got nothing to lose!”

“All that matters is that our Diamond gets more study material!” added another.

“Even shattering us means nothing as long as Red Diamond succeeds!”

“And these organic wastes will be a great asset to her research!”

“And if you take one wrong step, we’ll just start ending them! Red Diamond will understand the sacrifices…”

“...Unless one of you wants to go in their place? She’s always eager for volunteers!”

“Or perhaps you turn over Steven? Then she might let these people go.”

“Uh, let me think about that…” Amethyst said sarcastically, “Not gonna happen!”

One of the Spinels then had a sinister grin, “Very well then… I guess Red Diamond will just have to blow this whole place up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we've got how many things to wrap up next time?! The next one is going to be a blast! Hope to see you all there!


	15. Countdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Start playing the Europe song, everybody, because the end of this little arc is here!

Red Diamond looked out of her ship’s main viewport at the Human Zoo, smirking despite all the setbacks she faced. Even Blue Diamond’s taunting could not get her mood down. Why should she feel bad when her intellect could still win the day?

A few moments later, her faithful Pearl entered behind her. Without looking, the matriarch addressed her. “Back so soon?”

“Yes, My Diamond, but I am happy to report that it was because of Steven fusing with his Pearl to form an impressive new fusion.”

“Ah yes, he never ceases to amaze me! All the more reason to prioritize him over all the others.”

She then turned and looked down on her Pearl. “Since he is shown to be far more powerful than he appeared, we will have to corner him not with force but with the one thing he can’t resist; heroism. Prime the detonators, Pearl.”

“At once,” saluted the servant as she set off to do her master’s bidding. The Diamond gazed out at the space station once again, eager to finally have her hands on Steven Universe.

 

Meanwhile, the Gems in the habitat were shocked.

“Destroy this place!?” Jasper asked, “Are you insane?”

“Um, that’s a given,” snarked Peridot, “But more to the point, why?! You’d kill all these people for nothing?!”

“Oh, not for nothing,” answered a Spinel, “For Steven. He’s still our master’s biggest target.”

“All the humans and Gems on board might have been nice, but Steven is irreplaceable,” added another one, entirely unconcerned that she might die today.

This fact alone unnerved everyone, especially Jasper. Not only was she creeped out by what they were saying, but also dumbfounded at this sadistic sense of loyalty these Spinels had to Red Diamond. 

The Crystal Gems had much more to worry about, though, when the door to the habitat was blown down. When they saw who it was, though, their fears were assuaged.

“Guys, about time you showed up!” joked Amethyst.

“And you brought Rainbow Quartz!” smiled Garnet.

“Well now, it seems like you were having a great deal of fun without us,” 

“Well…” Rainbow said playfully, “I’m not entirely sure about fun, but…” They said that with a childlike smirk that enticed a chuckle from Amethyst.

Jasper, on the other hand, was quietly tense at seeing another successful fusion she hasn’t seen before… 

“This changes nothing!” insisted one of the Spinels, “One wrong move and these humans will be endangered!”

“Or Red Diamond might just destroy this whole base!”

“Oh, great,” moaned Lapis, “Something else to worry about.”

“Oh, you haven’t the faintest idea!” spoke a voice from inside the room that none of them recognized. 

The Crystal Gems wheeled around and saw the source of the voice. One of the Spinels was projecting a screen with Red Diamond’s visage looking down at them.

“I have many goals in mind! Unlike the other Diamonds, I am not limited by a one-track mind. I could always use more test subjects from the guards stationed here, but I also desire the last Rose Quartz gems in existence! Even beyond that, I could capture these humans in order to further my research! Above all, however, I hoped that it would bring you here. Given your past with your mother and how hopelessly sentimental Blue Diamond is, it was the perfect bait!”

“That’s despicable!” shouted Peridot.

“Says the Gem who was once sent to monitor a Gem Cluster that was originally meant to destroy the entire planet it slumbered in…” said the Diamond.

“So, this is your ultimatum,” said Garnet, “You’re going to blow up this whole station unless Steven hands himself over to you.”

“Well, it seems your future vision is effective. I must look into adding that to my troops.”

Amethyst interrupted her. “If you think we’re just gonna hand over Steven, then you’ve got another thing coming, you cracked creep!”

“Well then, the only other option is demolishing this whole place with all of you inside.”

“Um, wouldn’t that kill Steven too?!” yelled Bismuth.

“Considering that bubble of his survived planetary re-entry and let him breathe in the vacuum of space, he should be able to withstand one little explosion.”

“Okay,” interrupted Rainbow, “If I may ask, how exactly do you know all of this about Steven?!”

“I have my ways. Now then, you have one hour to reconsider.” And with that, the transmission ended. The Gems were once again looking at the Spinel soldiers around them.

“Well?” one of the Spinels asked, “We’re waiting!”

The humans who were there, however, were terrified. The only barely understood what was happening around them, but they could tell that it was not good...

Suddenly before anyone could say another word, a portal appeared just above them!

“What the-!?” The same Spinel began in shock, only to be tacked a split-second later. It was one of the Famethysts!

Indeed, the Famethysts were popping out of the portal with Lion alongside them! With the surprise appearance of over a dozen friendly Gems on their side, the Crystal Gems suddenly felt much more confident.

“Ha!” goaded an elated Amethyst, “Now we’re gonna kick all your crazy butts!”

Unfortunately, they were not the only surprise as dozens upon dozens of Red Diamond’s troops poured into the habitat from the broken down door. It was far more than just the group pursuing Rainbow Quartz’s gang as it seems they went off to gather any Gem who could help.

“You were saying?” 

The groups stared at each other. The only noise in the room was the humans, still surrounded by the Spinels, shivering in anticipation of an obvious brawl until suddenly both sides were off.

Rainbow Quartz was quickly dogpiled, being seen as the biggest threat, but a bubble shield around them fixed that. In a flash the fusion was off, wielding their parasol with unbelievable skill. When they were not dancing around every blow sent at them, Rainbow quickly slashed any Gem down to size in an instant. No soldier was even able to touch them, but Red’s forces had plenty of other opponents. The Famethysts couldn’t help but cheer Rainbow on, as they’ve never seen a Gem quite like them before, let alone a Fusion. Their cheering stopped, however, when they turned around and saw one of their own petrified into a golden statue.

“What the?! How did that happen?!” yelled one of the Jaspers of the group before getting her answer as something seemed to race up behind her one moment before she was similarly turned into gold.

The group was on high alert as the shape started dashing for Rainbow Quartz until someone else rushed in and punched the attacker across the room. 

“Garnet!” Rainbow said cheerfully, “Aren’t you just a sight for sore eyes!”

Garnet smiled at them for a second. “I’ve got this one. Try to get those humans free.”

As Rainbow raced off, the new Gem quickly tried to ambush her. Unfortunately for her, she picked to surprise the one Crystal Gem who could see the future and was kicked in the head for her troubles. Now that she managed to get her foe to slow down, she saw that this new Gem seemed to resemble a realistic statue made out of molten gold from head to toe. In fact she seemed to have no discernable facial features at first because of this. She wore a uniform similar to what a Topaz would wear, but with the addition of a skirt and elbow, length fingerless gloves. Her Gemstone, shaped like a coin, was on her forehead. 

“What the?” Jasper said, seeing this new foe “Who are you supposed to be!?”

The new gem looked at her, emotionless, save for a slight frown. She spoke only one word in response to Jasper’s question with a slow calm voice, “Aurum.” 

“And I don’t care!” 

Jasper charged at Aurum with her crash helmet out, but the golden Gem dodged to the side. She almost laid her paralyzing grip on the bruiser before Jasper landed a blow of her own. Aurum did not have much to time follow-up, though, as Garnet was behind her and quickly started overpowering her. While her speed and stealth were very impressive, it seemed Aurum had little experience with direct combat. After enough of a beating from both Gems, Aurum was poofed and reduced to a harmless gold coin.

While that battle went well, others were not so fortunate. Bismuth and the sole Carnelian of the Famethysts were contending with two Spinels along with seemed to be a blue-colored Topaz who had the ability to shoot lasers from her eyes. Including the ones on the palms of her hands.

“Do you have any secrets about this place that would help?” asked Bismuth as she was grappling with a Spinel, “Because I need to get this stretchy freak off of me!” 

“Nope, I never came in here,” responded the shorter Gem, trying to dodge lasers while talking, “Holly Blue would have my gem if I snuck in here, the clod.”

“I heard that!” cried the Agate.

“Good!”

“Focus!” shouted Bismuth as she managed to grapple the Spinel by the throat and toss her into the air. Once she was free, the blacksmith ran over to the mutant Topaz and quickly dealt with her. Even after taking a laser blast to the arm, she plowed on through and used a hand-turned-axe to decapitate the Gem and poof her.

Peridot was still putting her tractor beam wand to good use as, while not skilled at hand-to-hand combat, she was a specialist in technology. Whenever a stray from another battle tried picking her off, they were quickly grabbed and tossed around like ragdolls. 

Lapis was taking advantage of the environment, namely the giant lake in the habitat, to wreak havoc on any of Red’s droogs that tried to attack her. While she did find the occasional Gem who could either fly or tried leaping to her height, a hand of water appeared and smacked them out of the air like flies. 

Meanwhile, Rainbow continued to make short work of their opponents, that umbrella katana came in super handy. One of the Spinels from earlier tried latching onto them, but all that got was being flung overhead before being poofed. 

Rainbow then said, "Well now, this is getting a bit stale…"

"Agreed," Garnet said.

“Are you mocking us?!” shouted one of the Spinels. Despite the chaos of the area, all ten of them were still maintaining their position around the humans.

“Now now, I wouldn’t go that far… It’s simply that your group underestimated the spectacular abilities of the Crystal Gems, an easy but costly mistake.”

Now all ten of them were peeved and, much to Rainbow’s surprise, all of their gems began glowing.

“You’re not the only ones with fusion!” they spoke in unison before their bodies melted into liquid. Their bodies all gathered at one point before the blob exploded in size to being on par with Yellow and Blue Diamond in height. Three different heads appeared on the colossus’ massive shoulders with four arms appearing on each side. Then, just to make the vision even more threatening, a magenta tentacle appeared out of her back and wrapped itself around all the humans like an enormous tail! The people quickly started crying and panicking, but the gargantuan Spinel ignored it all and then absorbed them all into her body.

The entire battlefield went dead-silent at the arrival of this monstrosity. While Red’s forces were all smirking, the Crystal Gems and their allies were freaking out.

“Oh, terrific.”

“SWEET SPIRAL GALAXIES, WHAT IS THAT?!”

“Okay, that’s just insane!”

“Should’ve seen that coming…”

“It’s Spinelzilla!”

Amethyst’s name actually seemed to amuse the giant as she gave a devilish grin before taking one massive step, shaking the entire room underfoot. Even Rainbow Quartz’s usual bravado was briefly gone.

“Now this… Might be just slightly difficult…”

 

Meanwhile, Blue Diamond was making her way down the giant-sized corridors designed specifically for her. She wished she could reunite with Steven and ensure his safety, but she did not have the faintest idea where he was. Her best guess would be the habitat, but how to get there? Even in all her trips here, she often just made her way to the bubble room and then left.

She was distracted from her thoughts by a ringing sound coming from her gemstone. She quickly summoned her personal communicator and found the call was from her Pearl.

“My Diamond,” greeted the morose servant, “I have just intercepted a recent transmission from Red Diamond. I assumed you would be interested.”

“Show me.”

Her demented sister’s entire spiel played out, though missing some context since it was half of the conversation. Even still, now Blue knew everything.

“That… Little…” she growled, “She’d actually shatter all these Gems… I’m going to-”

“Pardon the interruption, My Diamond,” spoke her Pearl, “But I have also taken the liberty of having a cursory scan of the base done by your technical staff. They have found that the explosives in question have been planted in the infiltration points her pods used to enter the base.”

“Show me.” Blue was then presented with a holo-screen showing the locations for each of the bombs. 

“From what they could gather, the bombs have already been primed and the countdown has begun. They would have to be physically removed from the base in order to avoid premature detonation.”

The matriarch thought for a moment, wondering what kind of equipment she had that could work, before looking at her own two hands.

“Thank you, Pearl, I have an idea in mind. That will be all.”

One brief salute later and the communicator was off while Blue was making her way back to the entrance she crashed into. Thanks to the massive hole she made in the main door, a massive sliding wall had been put up to keep the border between the vacuum of space. With no time to head to the controls, Blue once again burst the wall down and let herself be sucked into the void once again. Another airlock was thankfully deployed behind her, but she did not have time for that. 

Now that she was in the vacuum, Blue propelled herself with a jump up towards the top spire of the zoo where she found a red sphere waiting for her. She gently laid her hands on it and with one tug she managed to pry it off without having it explode. The usually calm Diamond gave a smirk very much like her yellow counterpart and thought to herself.

_ “Let’s see if you’re as smart as you think you are, Red.” _

 

Spinelzilla roared at their faces, shaking the entire room as she dared any of her opponents to attack her. All of the Crystal Gems, even the likes of Garnet, had looks that ranged from nervous to horrified. 

Holly Blue herself took one look at the thing… and promptly fainted. This earned the dutiful leader a round of facepalms from the Famethyst.

Rainbow may have hidden their fear well, but it was obvious even they were tense.

Then, all at once, the tension broke as the massive Spinel sent her eight colossal arms hurtling towards Rainbow. The fusion nimbly dodged, weaving and leaping through the air as limb after limb flew past them. Just as two more arms came at them, Rainbow changed strategies and held the fists apart as the Gem tried to crush them.

“Jeez, how strong are they?!” exclaimed one of the Famethysts as Rainbow actually succeeded in pushing the hands apart!

The other Crystal Gems were just as surprised save for Garnet who was beaming with pride. As dangerous as the situation was, she could not hide her happiness at just how far both Steven and Pearl had come.

Spinelzilla, though, was less than happy and finally stopped trying to squash Rainbow. In fact, she actually made all of her arms regress back into her body. The much smaller fusion was not sure what to think until their gargantuan enemy liquified her entire body and came at Rainbow like a living tidal wave! 

“Goodness!” they exclaimed before summoning their parasol and rocketing away. The other Gems could hardly believe what they were looking at; a four-eyed pink samurai flying on a rainbow-spewing flying umbrella fleeing from a sentient magenta wave of liquid Gems.

“Heh,” mocked Jasper under her breath, “Some fusion…”

“Just wait for it…” said Garnet. And sure enough, Rainbow suddenly turned around and flew straight at the magenta wave. Right before they touched it, Spinel’s body reformed into solid mass and swallowed Rainbow.

“Hahahaha!” laughed Spinelzilla, “I’ve got you now, you-”

She was stopped when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her gut, forcing her to double over. The others watched in awe as they saw a lump form on the giant’s chest until Rainbow stabbed their way through with the katana!

“That’ll teach you to get greedy with your food, young lady!” jested Rainbow as they floated to the ground with their umbrella whole again, resembling a certain practically perfect nanny.

Seeing her foe still not defeated, Spinelzilla roared in anger and formed two colossal arms. Her arms then morphed into ten-foot long blades and swung her left one at Rainbow. The fusion summoned a bubble to stop the blow. It managed to just barely do the trick with the makeshift weapons colliding with the bubble with a resounding thud! She went to swing again, only to find Rainbow was flying once again. This time the smaller fusion was soaring in circles around Spinelzilla before suddenly leaping off with their katana out again. They went for one of the many gems scattered on the titan’s body, but before they could reach it, a human popped out over it.

“Someone help!” she cried, her body being curved over the stone like a literal meat shield. Rainbow immediately changed course and kicked off of the Spinel’s body before her massive sword tried to slice them.

“Oh, really?!” cried Peridot, “You’re actually going to use them as fodder?!”

“This just got profoundly more difficult,” grumbled Rainbow, grateful they could pull back at the last minute. As they were lost in thought, though, Spinelzilla was still on point and managed to slam into Rainbow with the flat of one of her arms, sending the fusion flying into one of the habitat’s walls hard enough to punch clean through.

“Ooooohhh…” winced the various Famethyst, all of them now staring at the hole they would have to patch up later.

Spinelzilla, however, was laughing her head off. “Ha, now I’ve learned how to beat you! I’ll just keep using these humans and you won’t be able to touch me!”

Lapis herself was mortified at this sight, seeing the humans trapped in this monstrosity. Amethyst was angry as well. “You’re using hostages as like your toys? How low can you get!?”

And so, for several minutes, a pattern emerged with Rainbow mounting an offense in various ways only to have one of the captive zoo-people be shoved out right where they were going to strike. This meant having to rebound over and over again until finally even their energy began to slip and the thought of having to come apart become more and more tempting until Rainbow looked over at the other Gems in the room and had an idea. 

Rainbow soon flew in for another round, looking to repeat the process. Spinelzilla grinned, thinking the next move was a foregone conclusion, but was surprised when a giant watery sledgehammer bashed her on the head.

“Hey,” shouted Lapis, “Did you forget about me?”

“Or me, clod?!” boasted Peridot from the ground. At first it looked to be a hollow claim, only to be surprised when managed to pull down one of the tiles making up the ceiling of the habitat, much to the monster's shock. She immediately blocked with both her sword arms in order to avoid being sliced in half herself while the crowd was equally impressed. 

“How?!” shouted Amethyst, her jaw nearly hitting the floor.

“Turns out the composition of Homeworld’s building materials contains metal! Nothing is safe from me!” she had a look of manic joy in her face as she said that last sentence. Several of the Crystal Gems looked more terrified by that thought than the fifty-foot tall monster in front of them.

Eventually, the massive Spinel managed to push the enormous tile off of her and was now roaring mad. She started sprouting tendrils from her body to start attacking her many foes only to find Garnet flying straight at her. Spinelzilla pulled the same strategy and threw out one of her captives to throw her off.

“Nice try,” smirked the much smaller fusion as she simply grabbed the man’s hand and yanked him to safety.

“Huh?!”

“Future vision for the win!” yelled Amethyst as she took her turn along with several of the Famethyst by her side. Five purple Gems leapt in unison and all nailed her straight in the gut, forcing the massive fusion to topple over. 

“Not so high and mighty now, are ya?!” declared Bismuth as she and Jasper both ran towards the fusion’s legs with the clear intent to topple her. The towering Spinel tried the same trick by pushing two more captives out where they were poised to strike, only to find both of them being pulled out safely.

“Thank you!” said the woman Jasper just rescued. Rather than react, Jasper just dropped her like a rock once she was safe in the more overgrown part of the habitat and ran back into the action. 

Realizing her old strategy was now failing her, Spinelzilla had to think of a new plan. Before she could very far, however, she saw Rainbow lounging on their umbrella and trying to grab her attention.

“Yoohoo! Up here! I’m still raring to go, unless you’d rather keep playing with my friends. I don’t judge, if that’s the case!”

That got under the titan’s skin. It was one thing to be losing, but having someone treat it like a game? That finally did it for her as she opened her mouth and started literally firing the rest of humans she held prisoners like cannonballs one after the other.

Rather than panic like the Spinel was hoping, Rainbow summoned the biggest shield they could make and turned it in reverse so that it would catch everyone. The plan worked and soon Rainbow lowered the large makeshift platform to the floor bringing every human back to relative safety. 

Needless to say, the Spinel monster was shocked at this outcome, and was starting to sweat a bit.

Rainbow then stood before it, a neutral look on their face, and spoke to the monstrosity before the group, “Alright, you have one final chance, leave. Retreat before this gets even worse for yourself.”

There was a brief pause… then it was clear that the Spinel monster declined. She roared in anger as she grew two extra heads. Just when it could not get any weirder, she actually breathed a type of searing hot crimson and tried to roast the androgynous fusion alive.

Rainbow, with a serious look in their eyes, opened their umbrella and used it as a shield. And it proved to be QUITE the barrier as the energy simply bounced off while Rainbow ran straight for the fusion monster! Then, out of nowhere, they struck like lightning leaping all over the colossus until they suddenly landed in front of the group. At first, nothing seemed to happen and the Spinel prepared to attack again…

...Until a hairline fracture appeared on her left arm. Then another one on her right leg. A whole bunch of them appeared on her torso and soon all of her heads rolled off her massive shoulders. The mighty titan literally fell to pieces as dozens of sword slashes appeared all at once all over her body. There was no sound in the room save for the massive fusion bursting into nothing but ten magenta stones that clattered to the ground.

Rainbow then landed gently on their feet. They held out their sword, twirled it slightly then placed in back into their umbrella. 

Everyone had an internal reaction to what they just saw. Well, save for Holly Blue who just woke up. The Crystal Gems and Famethysts were all ecstatic with even Jasper looking satisfied to see the titanic monster fall. Red’s other forces, however, realized just how bad of a position they were in. With their only getaway gone in order to plant the explosives and not set to come back until the one hour time limit was up, they realized they were now stuck in this space station with Rainbow Quartz and at least three dozen other enemies. They then took the smart route and ran headlong out of the room as fast as possible, gunning straight for the main entrance and choosing to throw themselves into space rather than contend with this kind of enemy.

“So much for sacrificing themselves,” snarked Rainbow Quartz before receiving a round of applause from the other Gems and the humans who were awestruck by the fusion’s achievement.

“Well, it’s been a pleasure to entertain and serve you all, but I believe it’s time I take my leave. Hopefully next time Red’s droogs will be more reasonable and we can discuss our differences over a game of Academic Achievement!”

And with that, the fusion lit up before splitting into Steven and Pearl. While both of them were panting from the strain of being together for so long, they were both equally satisfied that the fighting was over.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Amethyst said, "You guys were like some, super samurai or something!"

Steven had a smile of modesty upon that praise, "Well… yeah."

“Who knew all those  _ Lonely Blade _ movies would actually seem plausible by comparison?” said Pearl, wondering if she should give those films a second chance. 

“Wait,” Lapis said, “Aren’t we… aren’t we forgetting something?”

Peridot immediately chimed in, "Yeah! What about the detonators!? This place is still poised to explode!”

“What…?” 

Peridot’s outburst earned a few unintentional reactions of fear from the humans. “O-Oh… Oops.” 

“Yes, that does indeed seem to be the case!” spoke Red Diamond from her holo-screen. “I must admit I’m impressed with the abilities of that Rainbow Quartz. All the more reason to study you up close, Steven.”

The boy, however, was not intimidated. “Yeah, yeah, mad scientist stuff. Can you just go already? It’s been a long day and these people have been through enough. I’m pretty sure it’s flower-sniffing time.”

“Haha, we’ll aren’t you quite the… defensive child…” Red said, “Are you really certain you’ll risk everyone’s lives on a whim?”

“How many times do we have to go through this?!” yelled Jasper, “He’s not going! Beat it already!”

“And besides that,” added Pearl, “I’ve got quite the workload at home that I must get to. Gutters don’t clean themselves on Earth.”

“Yeah, I’m just done with all this,” agreed Lapis.

Red Diamond did not appreciate their flippancy. “A-Are you all cracked?! After all of this, after each ploy I’ve pulled and the danger you’ve been through, you’re all treating this like some drawn-out game?!”

“That’s how you’ve been treating it this whole time,” retorted Garnet calmly, “Might as well play along.”

One of Red’s eyes visibly twitched. However, she was suddenly calm, “Very well… I suppose I have no choice. I can override the countdown on the detonators and set them off immediately instead.” She then has a sinister smirk on her face. 

Steven looked nervous at this threat, visibly worried. “Ah,” Red continued, “ _ Now _ you are frightened.” She then gave a sinister chuckle and seemed to reach for a button off-screen. “Feeling a bit more cooperative with me seconds away from destroying your friends?”

Before Steven could reply, Garnet walked up to him and whispered something in his ear. The boy then suddenly seemed far calmer as he crossed his arms and stared at her. “Do it.”

“Wait, what?!” exclaimed everyone else in the room. Holly Blue almost fainted again.

“Can’t I get a say in this?!” she shrieked.

“Yeah, we’re with her!” yelled Carnelian, “We need to vote on this or something!”

“Steven, I’ve come to appreciate your confidence and superior emotional intelligence,” admitted Peridot, “But perhaps this might be the time we use  _ logic?! _ ”

Steven did not answer, trying to keep his composure as he continued staring at the devilish smirk Red Diamond was giving. The humans on board, oblivious as they were, were also one step away from full-blown panic attacks.

“Steven!” said Pearl as she put herself in between the two, “What did Garnet say?! Tell me!”

“Oh dear,” Red moaned, obviously enjoying the spectacle, “It seems you aren’t the leader Pink Diamond was made out to be. I suppose you’ll have to live with that grief once I hit  _ this! _ ”

Red pressed the button, causing everyone, even Jasper, to scream in terror. Steven even summoned a bubble on the incredibly slim off-chance that he was actually going to  _ die _ …

...But nothing happened. Red’s face went from evil glee to immensely confused in a second. One by one the people in the zoo opened their eyes and saw that they were perfectly fine. Steven lowered his bubble and let out a sigh of relief while flashing a thumbs-up to Garnet for the warning.

“W-we’re alive!” cheered Amethyst, “Holy smokes, we’re still alive!!”

“Told you…” smirked Garnet.

Their joy only got better as the flustered Red Diamond pushed the button again and still nothing. Soon she started mashing the trigger hoping in vain that it was just a delayed reaction, but still nothing. Seeing the fearsome madwoman who tried holding them all hostage be reduced to this was too much for the group and soon they all fell on the floor laughing their heads off. Even the humans were in hysterics, just enjoying how positive the mood became, and the Famethyst were doubly amused seeing Holly Blue rolling on the ground with tears going down her face.

Once she finally stopped holding down the button, Red Diamond went from confused to enraged. 

“WHAT DID YOU DO?! WHICHEVER ONE OF YOU DID THIS, I WILL PERSONALLY-”

“You know,” spoke a tranquil voice from on-high, “I really must thank you for that talk earlier…”

A panel of the roof opened revealing Blue Diamond overlooking the entire scene. “If it weren’t for that motivating me, I never would have thought to go outside and remove the bombs myself.”

“Blue! You saved us!” shouted Steven as he leaped the entire distance from the ground to her viewing platform and hugged her face.

“No way!” said one of the Famethyst, “She did all that?!”

“Our Diamond is awesome!”

“I desperately need to be restationed…” grumbled Holly Blue, trying to nurse a headache.

“So,” resumed Blue, “I must ask, Red, how did you get so distracted? I was outside the whole station the whole time, but you never spotted me once? What was Steven doing in here that kept your attention?”

“I’ll explain later,” assured the boy as he laughed at Red’s expression. It was obvious she was trying to hold back a meltdown as she clenched her eyes and mouth shut. A second later, the feed showing her face was shut off. They then heard something in the distance.

"My Diamond," Blue's Pearl said in the zoo intercom, "The sensors are currently showing multiple ships leaving the area, Red Diamond's forces are retreating!"

All of the humans and gems, even Holly Blue, began to cheer at this news. The Crystal Gems, especially, were happy that they finally got one up on Red Diamond and saw her thoroughly defeated. Up above them, though, Blue and Steven were discussing something.

“Hey Blue, I know you really care about this place, but…”

“Hm? Is there something wrong with it? Does it need a new color?”

“No, that’s fine, but I was just thinking. All those Rose Quartzes stuck in bubbles, even though they didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Are you suggesting I… let them go?”

“Yeah. I understand you want to remember Pink with them, but they’re still alive. One of them got loose during the fight and she was super scared. She probably doesn’t even know why she was just thrown away.”

Blue looked at Steven for a moment, and then was in deep thought. In a few seconds, she spoke, “Yes… I believe you are right to suggest such a thing… They will be released. And since they are technically your Gems, it’s only right you decide where they should go.”

Stevven’s eyes widened when he was told of that responsibility. He then remembered that he was technically a Diamond now too.

 

Later… 

The one thing Steven didn’t realize about the Zoo unil Pearl told him was that it wasn’t just some simple space station, but a fully operational SPACESHIP! It didn’t even take them that long to make it back to Earth!

Within the hour, They were already back on the planet, the Zoo overlooking the temple! This came as a shock to Greg, who was near the temple himself. 

However, the first thing he saw was Steven, with an awkward look on his face. “Hey there, sport! Had a fun time in outer space?”

“Well, yeah, it was fine, but…”

“Hi!” greeted a very eager Rose Quartz that was following behind Steven. Greg immediately looked ready to have a heart attack.

“Yeah… Turns out I own every other Rose Quartz gem in existence." Steven explained, laughing nervously for a second, "All… 2,382 of them.”

The Rose look-alike was happily staring at the sand and crashing waves like a small child at the beach for the first time. The men appreciated her being distracted since Steven was clearly uncomfortable with the thought of “owning” anyone else and Greg’s mind was reeling from the thought of  _ thousands  _ of copies of his late lover being around him all at once, each one only slightly different from one another. Some were even picture perfect copies of the woman he loved...

“I’m not sure what to tell the other Gems, though… I think some of them should go back to Homeworld and help there, but how many? Any ideas?”

“Uhhhhhhh…”

“Are you okay?” chirped the Rose Quartz, “Is something wrong with your face?”

Steven noticed the same thing. “Hey, Dad? You feeling okay? You… look like your losing it...”

Rather than reply, Greg ran into van and burned rubber as he drove down the beach. If he listened carefully, Steven could swear he heard him yelling at the top of his lungs, his mind torn halfway between being ecstatic and terrified.

 

A few minutes later…

Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst were all frozen in shock, as a LOT of Roses Quartz Gems were in the temple-house while the rest were playing outside, curious and happy.

_ “We’re gonna have to talk about this…” _ thought Garnet.

_ “Man, I hope I can get some of these gals into wrestling! Purple Puma and her posse of Pink Panthers! That’d be sick!” _ thought Amethyst.

_ “They’re not Rose. They’re not Rose. They’re not the Rose you know, Pearl. Get those thoughts out of your head! As much as you want to, it’d be so many descriptions of wrong!”  _ thought Pearl as she brought out a paper bag of her gem and tried to control her breathing. 

 

Bismuth was a bit uncomfortable at the sight, considering what she tried to do to Rose herself. She decided the best thing to do was head to her forge, bang out a few battle axes and keep her head cool until this all blew over. She may have been unsure about all the new faces, but she did have faith that Steven could fix it. 

Jasper, on the other hand, was internally  _ enraged. _ There were just way too many of…  HER in the same room. While all of them had their differences, there were a few identical to Steven’s mother and one look at them made her grind her teeth. It took all of her willpower not to go into a rage and attack any of them so instead she hopped onto a warp pad to go somewhere, anywhere, far away from all this and punch rocks to kill the time. 

 

The only two who were not that shocked or angry were Peridot and Lapis Lazuli, as neither of them knew Steven's mom well enough for this to be weird. They merely watched from the cliff overlooking the house.

“This is going to be complicated,” muttered Lapis.

“Yeah and there’s no amount of meep-morps that’s going to fix this,” thought Peridot, “What all these Gems need is somewhere to direct their attention…”

“You mean besides at Pearl?”

Peridot blushed at that line. “Not like that! I mean an actual function. A place for them to truly be useful.”

“Well, considering they’re all soldiers, not sure what they can do.”

“Hm… I’m not sure… they seem to be almost too playful to be soldiers…”

“Then why don’t they just hang out with Black Diamond and his Pearl all day? They’ve got nothing better to do…”

“Guys!” spoke Steven as he ran up the hill behind them, “I’m really not sure what to do with all these Rose Quartzes! Pearl looks ready to explode, I think Jasper’s disappeared, and I don’t think I wanna know what my dad’s doing! I’ll take any ideas on what to do with all these extra Gems!”

 

Black Diamond looked at the scene before him and blinked. It was not every day someone literally brought over a thousand Gems to you out of nowhere.

“So… Let me get this straight,” he started, feeling rather awkward despite literally standing over everyone, “You essentially  _ inherited  _ all of the Rose Quartz gems left in that Zoo.”

“Yes.” said Steven, rubbing his arm nervously.

“But since you’re situation at your temple is complicated, you thought I could use them all?”

“Exactly! You said you only had your Pearl so it seemed fair!”

“Well… I won’t deny that I’ve missed having more subjects- I mean, associates. But are you certain the others won’t mind? The last thing I want is White on my back badgering me about protocol.”

“Yeah, I thought that too. I was going to talk to her and see if she’s willing to split them 50-50. That way she had more Gems helping on Homeworld and you have some friends for yourself!”

The patriarch rolled the idea over for a moment before smiling. “It sounds to me like you have impressive diplomacy skills.”

“Yeeeah, that kinda comes with the territory.”

“Wait, really?!” yelped Black Pearl, overhearing the entire conversation, “You mean I’m going to have almost 1,200 new friends?!”

Rather than be annoyed, the Diamond just laughed. “I suppose so, Pearl. Now you’ll have someone to help you find that Nebraska place you’ve been searching for.”

Steven stifled a laugh at Black Pearl’s antics. He then proceeded, “Yeah, besides. It kinda doesn’t feel right to just say that I ‘own’ these gems. They’re their own people, able to choose what they want to do, what they want to be! I just wanna give that to them.”

Black smiled warmly at this, “Spoken like a good friend. I expected nothing less from the young man who reformed the Diamond Authority.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that done, next time we'll have Steven back on Earth but having to deal with a certain someone there...


	16. Friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, after a bit of a hiatus, we're both back with a new fusion to boot!

Eventually, each of the Rose Quartzes were redistributed throughout the gem-owned planets. Black Diamond himself kept three of them to make his own personal staff, much to the delight of his Pearl. While he was touched by Steven’s generosity, he simply did not have anywhere for so many Gems to go and thus left over 2,000 on the table for the others. The other Diamonds were questionable at this decision made by Black and Blue, but ultimately, they decided that it was for the best and allowed it, much to Steven’s relief.

 

One week after that incident, a pair of friends were sitting on a ferris wheel enjoying the relaxing atmosphere. It was also to celebrate that in exchange for saving the world from the Diamonds, Mayor Nanefua convinced Mr. Smiley to finally lift Steven’s lifelong ban on all of the boardwalk rides.

“Okay, that… sounds pretty awkward,” said Connie, relishing her relatively normal family life in comparison.

“You have no idea.”

Steven then took a bite out of some cotton candy he was eating, “I almost called one of them ‘Mom’ for a second there.” He then shuddered at the sheer memory of the awkwardness.

“So, now what? You think the other Diamonds will do something with all those new Gems?” asked Connie.

“Yeah, but I don’t know what. I’m just glad they aren’t stuck in bubbles anymore.”

"At least there's a silver lining. Those Roses Quartzes will be able to actually live now!"

“Yeah, and I’m happy for them. It may be weird, but they’re still innocent. Plus White Diamond even seemed really excited about it. It’s really nice to see her finally open up and give those Gems a second chance.”

The wheel began moving and raised their seat to the top of the wheel. From there, the duo looked out to see the growing neighborhood around the temple. And even some bits of the house, construction had begun on the expansions for the building.

“So, I see construction is underway," Connie said.

"Yup! The Gems are renovating everything, adding more space and a few new floors too! They're even getting help from a few Homeworld Gems with expanding!"

“Wow, who would’ve thought you’d be getting help with your construction projects from the aliens who were trying to blow up Earth with the Cluster.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty insane. In fact, I should probably bring that up to them too. Maybe there’s a way to remove it… her?... The Cluster safely.”

“Remember when the biggest problem we had was that stupid race with Kevin?” 

“Ugh, don’t remind me. That’s one of the dumbest decisions I ever made. Pearl almost had a heart attack, too.”

“But Gems don’t have hearts…”

“Exactly.”

A few minutes later, the two were back on the ground. Connie looked up at Steven, then looked down, blushing.

”What?" asked the boy.

"Sorry, it's just… you're way bigger now. You look older, so it just feels  _ weird _ to me, y'know?"

"Yeah. Aging is still really weird for me. Peridot actually looked into it and thinks that my age is kind of, 'paused' for a while. Her best guess is I'll look seventeen until I actually  _ turn _ seventeen."

"Oh… that's unusual."

"Yeah, but by then you’ll catch up to me so there's nothing to worry abou- oof!"

Steven suddenly crashed into someone who was walking by, sending both of them falling to the ground. 

“Oh man, sorry about that!” apologized Steven, only to stop when he saw who it was.

“Yeah, save it,” scoffed Kevin, the boy’s least favorite person in all of Beach City, “Just be lucky you didn’t scuff my shoes…”

“Oh, brother,” said Connie as she rolled her eyes, “Could you maybe drop the attitude for once? He said sorry.”

“Hey, you’re that little girl who hangs out with Steven. What’re you doing with this guy?” 

Both of them giggled at that. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You’re always running around with that twerp in pink,” he said as he looked over Steven, barely keeping his composure as the older teen stared at him. “So where’d this guy come from? Finally ditch him?”

“Um… Actually…” Steven tried to say, but by this point he was laughing too hard. Connie could not hold it in herself and soon they were holding each other up.

“What?! What’s the joke?”

“This guy  _ is  _ Steven, dumb-dumb!” laughed Connie.

“Really? Pretty sure he’s like half this guy’s size.”

“What can I say? Growth spurt!”

“Prove it.”

Steven then leaned over and whispered…  _ something _ in Kevin’s ear. The arrogant teen’s eyes went wide as the truth hit him.

“You can’t be serious!” Steven doubled over again and Connie was in heaps along with him. “S-stop laughing! It could happen to anybody!”

"Yeah, true, but... " Connie then couldn't say the rest, but simply blurted out more laughter.

"Grr… I said STOP!" the egotistical teen yelled, "You think you're so great, don't you!? Well… well… argh!" turned on his heels and stomped off, not even bothering to try coming back from his humiliation. 

"Wait, Kevin, uh…" Steven began, before Connie interrupted.

"Don't Steven, just don't. He’s not worth it.”

The younger boy thought Connie had something of a point. There was a time where he could not stand Kevin and it admittedly drove him to do some stupid things. Now, though, he did not want to think anyone was truly helpless. If a trio of tyrannical dictators could turn around, what was stopping him from helping a self-absorbed teenager?

“Connie, do you mind waiting here for a bit? I wanna at least try to talk to him.”

“Sure, I won’t hold it against you. I’ll get some cotton candy in case you get too annoyed by him.”

“Heh, thanks.” Connie then walked off and let Steven chase after the older teen. A few minutes of searching later and he found Kevin pouting outside the arcade.

“Kevin, wait up! I’m sorry!”

“Hmph, what do you want now?”

“I… wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have laughed at you. Trust me, you’re not the first one who didn’t recognize me looking like this.”

Kevin was taken aback by this, but refused to let it show. “Yeah? Is that supposed to make us best friends now?”

Steven frowned as he remembered how… difficult Kevin can get, "Look, I know things aren't, well, cool between us, especially since that party a while ago, but-"

"Do NOT mention that night! I felt so… argh!!" Kevin seemed more upset now.

“What? Did that not go well?”

“Oh, gee, first my guest of honor doesn’t even show up and then I get dunked in the pool! I couldn’t show my face at school for a week thanks to that stunt!”

"O-oh, that."

"Yeah, that," Kevin said, "I just wanted to talk to Stevonnie again, but instead all I got was  _ soaking wet! _ Then I became the laughingstock of my class!"

At this point, Steven actually began to feel guilty. “Well… Stevonnie is kinda complicated.”

“Yeah, I don’t even begin to understand it, but somehow you and that girl Connie become Stevonnie. Weird stuff happens in this town all the time.”

“If you really want to know, I can show you…”

That actually got Kevin to react. “Wait, what?”

“Fusion is pretty easy for Connie and me. All we have to do is dance together and then we’re Stevonnie.”

“You’re joking. That’s it?”

“Yeah, it’s not even any special dance. Wanna see?”

Kevin had this weird look on his face, but eventually nodded out of hopes that he would see Stevonnie anytime soon.

Steven took out his phone and put on a random beat. Unfortunately it was the music from the party where Kevin first met Steven's first fusion. After a few seconds, Steven began to move to the rhythm.

“Hey, that’s my song!” whined Kevin, “What are you trying to say? That you can dance to this better than me?”

“Huh?! No, I just hit a random song… I didn’t mean to-”

“Yeah, sure. Keep playing dumb. Maybe you should step back and let me show you how it's done!”

Kevin stretched for a minute, warming up, then he proceeded to start dancing himself. He moved with a slick sense of finesse, a confident smirk on his face throughout. Something about that face irked Steven and that pushed him to dance against him. The younger teen was much more casual and simplistic with his movements, regardless of how he felt, matching the beat while the older of the pair was much more rehearsed and done through meticulous repetition. They drew a few stares from the people on the boardwalk as they danced off including Connie who was holding two servings of cotton candy.

“Well, looks like I was right to get this…” she said to herself as she watched with the crowd. As the song was reaching its conclusion, the duo barely noticed the bystanders. They were entirely focused on each other and trying to outdo their rival until the final measure kicked in. On the final note of the melody, they both pushed themselves forward and ended up locking hands. It seems like they were going to progress from a contest to a scuffle when suddenly a blinding pink light blinded the crowd. When the light cleared, there was only one figure standing there…

 

He was just a head taller than Kevin, but also had Steven’s more built, athletic body. His almost-black hair looked a bit of a mess, like it was gelled back and combed, but then was made slightly messy. He wore Steven’s shirt underneath Kevin’s black jacket, a pair of blue skinny jeans and a pair of Kevin’s custom shoes, but redone with a new color scheme as if to emulate Steven as well. His face was also a combination of Steven and Kevin as well, with mostly Steven’s features but with Kevin’s higher cheekbones, larger nose and forehead. His skin tone was similar to Steven’s with a more evident tan to it.

The stranger opened his eyes and saw Connie walk up to him. She had an unreadable expression as she handed him the cotton candy. He took it wordlessly and started to nibble on it for a moment before she spoke. “I… I have no words for this…" she said, still with that odd look on her face.

The man then seemed to suddenly realize something, then dropped the cotton candy in shock. He then spoke, "What the- !? But how!? I thought- What the heck!? What just- Wait did we just- !?  _ What's happening to me!?!? _ ”

Connie stood there, now with a readable expression on her face, shock. Evidently this was SOME kind of fusion. But only physically…  _ Mentally _ , there were still two people in there… “Um…” Connie began, aware of just how bizarre this was… “... Steven??”

“What?! No, I’m- Back off!”

“Ooookay… Maybe we should go to the Crystal Gems for help…”

“Heck no! I’m not doing that! But you should- Why?! Aaaaargh!”

Connie then noticed the crowd still staring at the new fusion, “Uh, guys?” she said, “Maybe we should find somewhere more private?”

For the first time, both halves of the new whole agreed to get away from prying eyes. With Stevonnie’s first day still in mind, Connie and the new fusion walked to the warehouse where Sour Cream hosted that rave months ago. While it had become a regular rehearsal spot for Sadie’s new band, it was currently vacant and thus gave the privacy they clearly needed.

“Okay,” sighed Connie, “Now that we’ve got some space, I need you to calm down. Take a deep breath and get yourself together.”

While Kevin’s will wanted to disagree, the fusion still listened to the girl’s advice and managed to relax somewhat.

“There. Now then, who are you?”

“...Stevin?”

“Okay, that’s a start. How do you feel, Stevin?”

“This feels weird… Trust me, you’ll get used to it.”

“Um…”

“Oh yeah? How do you know? Because I’ve done this before? Yeah, but-”

“Okay, stop it!” yelled Connie, “It is super weird to watch you argue with  _ yourself _ !”

Stevin blinked and suddenly felt very self-conscious, “S-Sorry?”

“It’s alright. Stevonnie’s first day wasn’t all roses, but that’s also because me and Steven were already good friends. You two, though… It explains why you’re so scattered.”

“Wait, what? What are you talking about?”

Connie simply stared at them with a look that said,  _ really? _

Stevin proceeded, “What? Connie, why- What’s with the stupid look, you- Hey! That’s not nice! She’s creeping me out! That’s no excuse to be rude!”

Connie simply facepalmed and said to herself, “This is going to take a while…”

Suddenly the two, or three to some, heard footsteps approaching from nearby; someone was walking into the warehouse! Worse yet, before they had a chance to hide, they saw the person step in the open space almost immediately. It was Greg!

“Connie?” he asked, confused, “What are you doing here? And who’s this? Wait… where’s Steven?”

Stevin’s hand seemed to move with the other hand trying to restrain the first arm. Eventually he lifts his shirt high enough to reveal the Gem. 

Greg’s eyes were wide in shock. Connie then nervously said, “He… fused…?”

“Welp… I got nothing.”

“Yeah, me neither.”

“I’m standing right here!” pouted Stevin before he almost slapped himself in the face.

“I’m calling Pearl,” blankly stated Greg as he pulled out his phone.

“Good idea…” The fusion said, before his voice immediately backtracked, “Wait, what!? You’re calling someone else!? It’s fine, Pearl is a- No it’s not! I don’t want people to see me like this! Come on, it’ll be alright. No! I don’t wanna! Seriously Kevin, RELAX!”

“Wait,  _ Kevin _ !?” Greg said, shocked, “That jerk you told me about!? The one who only wanted you around just to hang with Stevonnie!?”

“Hey!” Greg then just realized that he just said that. To  _ both  _ his beloved son AND the actual jerk in question.

“Whoopsie…” Much to his relief, Pearl quickly answered and as soon as she heard the situation she showed up with Garnet and Amethyst in tow. All three of the Crystal Gems stared at him, all clearly shocked by the sight of Stevin, before Amethyst finally reacted.

“This… Is… HILARIOUS!”

“It really isn’t,” Connie said fully deadpan.

Stevin began to ‘speak’ again,  “This is so embarrassing… Come on Kevin, they can help out. Oh great, I have to go to a bunch of alien freaks for help. Hey! That’s my family you’re talking about. Shut it, you runt! I just wanted to talk to Stevonnie again, but-”

As ‘he’ proceeded, the three gems in question each had their own awkward look on their faces. The only exception was Garnet, who was as stoic as ever. 

“This is definitely not healthy,” muttered Pearl, “Honestly, I’m stumped as to how they’ve stayed together this long…”

“It’s only been, like, ten minutes,” said Greg.

“Exactly.”

“Anyone else feel like this is just the universe playing with us?” moaned Connie as she continued to watch Stevin have a one-person argument.

“I don’t know about that, but I wish I had some popcorn!” jeered Amethyst, “This guy is a riot!”

Garnet then walked forward, completely unnoticed by Stevin until she placed a hand on his shoulder. That finally got the newer fusion to be quiet as Garnet stared at him for several seconds in silence.

“Uh… Garnet?” The fusion asked, somewhere between intimidated or worried.

“You’re definitely something interesting.”

“What do you mean?” asked Greg.

“There’s a lot of conflict, and yet he’s still together. But he’s nowhere near Malachite; he’s still actually bonded together from something, but I can’t tell what.”

“So… what?” asked Stevin, “Am I stuck like this?”

“No, fusion isn’t permanent unless you want it to be.

“Well, I definitely don’t want it to be! There’s no need to freak out. Seriously, how can you be so calm!? Please Kevin, I- I’m a FREAK!!”

Amethyst had to stifle more laughter at this. Pearl and Connie both looked at each other, both of them clearly concerned, while Garnet came to a conclusion.

“Every fusion is different and some definitely aren’t meant to be. The only one who can figure this out is you, Stevin. Take your time and look at what makes you tick"

“...I can do that…”

And with that advice, Stevin calmly walked outside and looked out at Beach City in the distance and headed off. As he left, the rest of the group still inside watched him depart, they all had different thoughts going through their heads.

_ “Please don’t get into any trouble…” _

_ “He can figure this out for himself… I hope.” _

_ “Man, was it  _ this  _ weird seeing Stevonnie for the first time? Go figure.” _

_ “I almost can’t believe how much Steven’s matured. I’m sure he’ll make the right decisions.” _

_ “Oh ho, this is gonna get gooooood!” _

 

Stevin then walked down one of the streets, heavily self-confused. Both sides then thought the same thing.  _ What makes us tick? That’s a really good question... _

It was at that moment that the fusion heard upbeat rave music nearby. Curious, the two began to walk towards the sound. The fusion eventually made it to this building where loud music was playing, it looked like a dance party. However, upon closer inspection, it seemed they were looking at something completely different.   
“Hey… Hm?”

Stevin was now facing his reflection in the mirror as the two mindsets communicated. 

“What? / I think that’s a dance off in there… / Really? Well… maybe we could- / No. / What? Why not? /  I don’t want to go in there like… like this! What if someone I know recognizes me!? / Kevin…  _ You don’t look like you right now! _ It’s going to be fine. I promise!” Suddenly the fusion made a grumbling sort of sound, then the ‘self-conversation’ concluded, “Alright, fine. You win.” 

The fusion then awkwardly walked inside the building and saw a ring of teenagers surrounding a pair of girls who were trying to outdo each other’s choreography. At first he stuck to the edge of the crowd, content to watch as he bobbed his head to the techno beat. Before he knew it, though, he started to move more and more until the people around backed away and opened the way to the center where the two dancing females watched him approach. He saw the crowd around him, but instead his focus was purely on his own movements. He slid from one spot to another with a confident grace that quickly drew the audience in and soon they were cheering for him.

The de facto DJ of the party switched the song on him, wanting to see how this new arrival would adapt, and the party was not disappointed. Despite the feverish pitch of the new track, Stevin was still grooving without a care in the world as he simply did whatever came to mind.

Then suddenly, he tripped.

The fusion hit the floor with a resounding thud. The crowd gasped at his fall and the music stopped on a dime. Stevin was barely injured by the fall, but something much worse was hurt. The entire room turned to black as his heart started pounding in his ears and his stomach felt ready to leap out of his throat. As laid there in the abyss, he could hear voices start to jeer and laugh at him. 

“K-Kevin?” spoke Steven from inside, trying to be heard over the noise, “It’s alright, okay? Eve-everyone messes up… sometimes…”

For once, though, the more arrogant teen was completely silent. He was trying to resist the urge to vomit and/or completely shut down from the panic attack that was just begging to start.

“Kevin, snap out of it!” begged Steven conscience, but he felt completely helpless. It was like trying to argue with a tsunami. The cruel laughter grew louder as he felt his neck tense and his breathing grow shorter. 

“Hey, are you okay?” asked a voice through the noise. The inky void and the noise around him soon cleared away as he looked at a concerned older girl holding out her hand to him. Stevin was less surprised by her wild pink hair and lip piercing and more so by her kindness. He silently took her hand and walked with her to the back corner of the room while the others resumed dancing.

“T-thanks,” muttered Stevin, trying to stop his knees from shaking, “D-Do I know you from somewhere?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty hard to miss,” joked the girl, “The name’s Sheena. The better question is, though, how are you?”

“Uhhhhhhh…”

“Take your time,” said Sheena as she reached down to a cooler and brought out a water bottle for each of them, “Everyone messes up sometimes.”

“H-How do you know all of this? Being, well, you know-”

“Anxiety? Trust me, I didn’t start looking this way for kicks. I was a pompous little fourteen-year-old who thought ‘no one understands me’ and ‘I’m so much smarter than all of you’ and all that crud. Me getting straight D’s in every class didn’t change my mind.”

“So… what did it?”

“When I was sixteen, I asked out a girl who I had been crushing on for a month. She, to put it nicely, told me she wasn’t interested and I got laughed at for weeks because of it. I then refused to go to school, acted like an even bigger witch to everyone I knew, and tried to act I was the greatest person on Earth even though I cried myself to sleep every night.”

Stevin’s eyes widened in shock, “Whoa… what changed for you…?”

“My mom and dad came into my room one day when I stayed home. They had just gotten a call saying how I was failing everything and how I threatened to clobber some guy who tried talking to me. I told them to go away and stayed in bed pouting. That’s when they both start pulling out all my clothes, throw them in a suitcase, put a hundred bucks in my wallet and told me to get out and only come back when I learned my lesson.”

“What?! They kicked you out?!”

Sheena laughed at his shock. “Yeah, but trust me, I deserved it. I tried bumming off a few friends for a week, but they didn’t want to put up with me. Trust me, I was a colossal jerk to them all. I was  _ that  _ roommate who would never cook, clean or do anything useful, but would always whine and complain how the couch I was sleeping on was too hard. I burned through all that money they gave me in two days because I could barely keep change in my pocket. I was about to consider running away on a bus to who-knows-where because ‘I’m so pitiful’ when I finally got it; I needed to grow up.”

“W-What’d you do?”

“I went straight home, got a job the next day at some fast food place, started paying back all my friends the money I owed them for the food I mooched off of, went back to school next semester and actually tried, and pretty soon I was doing well. Shocking, I know, but I learned that applying myself was a lot better than being a spoiled brat. Now I’ve got a roof of my own, I make a pretty good living doing tattoos and now I can pay to dye my hair a different color every month!”

Stevin looked at her, impressed.

The fusion then spoke… "Well, we, I mean…  _ I  _ am kinda… I guess I'm just struggling to find myself, y'know?"

“Trust me, it happens to everyone. I used to be this super self-absorbed jerk, but really I was just scared.”

“Of what?”

“That if people saw the real me, they wouldn’t like it.”

Stevin, or rather the part of the fusion's mind that was Kevin, was in deep thought about this. A hand subconsciously went to his face and covered the fusion’s mouth. Sheena saw this and began to walk away.

“Dude, it’s alright. Not everyone’s super confident, but that’s alright too. You should’ve seen this one girl I met, though. She was pretty strange, but really outgoing. Whoever you are can be a good person if you want it to be.”

And with that wisdom said, the pink-haired party girl walked away and left Stevin to himself. He glanced up at the dancing going on without him and decided to head out the door.

However, the moment the fusion stepped out of the doorway, Stevin sat down on a nearby bench, and sighed. He looked at the reflective glass next to him…

"Your wanna talk about it…?" Steven and Kevin began to converse within the fusion again, "... I… I just wanna know something… what's it like? Having actual  _ friends _ ?” As he looked into the glass, the images of his components appeared instead of his own reflection.

“Well… It’s kinda hard to explain. I’ve always had friends and I just make them without even trying.”

“...”

"Kevin?"

"... You're lucky. I wish I could make friends like that…"

"Kevin…"

“I don’t get it! I’m beautiful, rich, smart, funny, what else is there?! What am I missing!?"

"... Maybe I can help? Maybe I can teach you?"

"... Really? You'd do that for me?"

"Yeah! … I can be your friend! If you want."

Kevin thought long and hard about it before the glass Stevin was looking in appeared to crack. “Why?”

“Huh? Why, what?”

“Why you, huh? Why do you just now want to be nice to me?”

“Because you just said you wanted to!” answered Stevne angrily, causing his image to start cracking as well.

“You think I like being pitied?!”

“No, but apparently you like being a jerk!”

“Stop it!” shouted Stevin, a headache ringing through his skull thanks to their arguing, “I get it, we don’t like each other, but can it already!”

“Sir, are you alright?” asked someone new, snapping Stevin back to reality. He found a certain well-built teenager in town wearing what appeared to be a theater costume.

“J-Jamie?” asked Stevin, almost wondering if he was still hallucinating.

“Ah, it seems my legions of fans continue to expand!”

"Wait, you don't recogni-" the fusion realized it, "Wait, no you wouldn't…"

"Wouldn't what? Have we met somewhere?"

Stevin did not answer that question. The fusion then had a mix of information in his head about how Steven knew Jamie… and how Kevin knew Jamie… the two were…

"Cousins!?" the fusion blurted out in shock.

"Huh?" Jamie asked, confused.

"Um… n-nothing…"

"Okay… so… what are you doing here all by yourself?"

Somehow the word  _ yourself _ got to the fusion… "I… uh… kinda… messed up a bit…"

"Hm?"

“I just embarrassed myself at this party, but then I met this girl and-”

“Ah, the affairs of the heart! Trust me, we’ve all had our woes with the forces of attraction. It’s one of the rare things my cousin and I have in common.”

Stevin remained quiet as the thespian continued. “Ever since childhood, Kevin and I have never been on good terms. Our family has always been affluent, but our parents took different approaches to us. My mother and father were wealthy, but gave me a sense that I had to earn my own way. Even though I had plenty of money, I never felt the need to flaunt it because I wanted my actions to speak for themselves.”

Jamie looked over and noticed his audience seemed a bit restless. Stevin was keeping both his hands in his pockets and seemed a tad uncomfortable.

“Oh, don’t worry, now I’m doing great! My performing arts school has new applicants every week! I wish I could say the same for Kevin, though. My aunt and uncle, kind as they are, spoiled him rotten. They never made him strive for anything except to stay out of legal trouble. Any time someone told him off or demanded he change, they’d always write it off and then tell Kevin how incredibly special he is and how the world simply doesn’t understand him and all that flowery nonsense.”

“What… happened with that girl?” he stuttered, his hands fidgeting with every word.

“Sabrina? Ah, the one thing he couldn’t have. A nice enough woman, I suppose, but she refused to fall for Kevin’s charms. Once he couldn’t dazzle her with his personality, he tried showering her with gifts. I swear he bought that near-stranger a genuine diamond necklace once! All just she’d talk to him and perhaps go on a lunch date, but even then she just shunned him. It was only when the braggart finally confessed how much he adored her and wanted to truly get to know her that she finally relented…”

Stevin was now completely still which Jamie took as a sign to continue with his story. 

"But… that's kinda where the dream stopped. Kevin eventually began to act more… entitled. He started to be more demanding and more selfish… he began to prioritize himself over everything else. Including Sabrina."

“Then…” stuttered Stevin, now fighting to stay seated, “What?”

“She wouldn’t stand for it, that’s what. Not long after he changed for the worse, Sabrina confronted him in front of a packed restaurant and called him out for everything he had said and done. He, being the incredible mature person he is, then declared that  _ she  _ should apologize for humiliating him or they were through. She dumped her dinner on his head and stormed out after that.”

Stevin's two minds felt heavily conflicted when they heard that story. One was feeling pangs of sympathy while the other felt raw animosity. This kept going for a few seconds.

“Do…” the fusion then said with some hesitation, “Do you think Kevin would be able to change?”

Jamie then closed his eyes in thought, bringing some worry to the fusion. “Perhaps, but the issue is… that he doesn’t want to change. He still sees himself as the absolute greatest thing since Shakespeare and shy of a miracle, I honestly don’t know what could get through to him.”

“But… he’s your cousin…”

“Yes, a cousin who’s done nothing but look down on me for not having the same silver spoon in his mouth. Nevermind the fact that I’m now running a successful business and he’s gallivanting around town flaunting his parents’ money like it will never run out.”

Jamie then looked down at his watch and gaped at the time. “Oh dear, I have an appointment to make! Sorry for this, sir, but I have to go. Have a splendid day!”

At that moment, Stevin felt… conflicted. As the jolly thespian jogged away, the last few words he said sunk in. Just how bad could Kevin be if a member of his own family could badmouth him and then walk away so casually?

It took some time, but Stevin eventually got to his feet and walked off into town once again, his head thankfully silent. He was wondering now more than ever what to do now and if Kevin was worth helping at this point...

 

Later the fusion was at the shore, the mind of the fusion going through thoughts wildly with the feelings, thoughts, and opinions of both Steven and Kevin running madly throughout. Steven’s desire to help Kevin and how unsure of it he’s become, Kevin’s past with Sabrina, Steven’s offer and Kevin’s words about him… It took quite a bit of time to deliberate, but soon the young man’s mind was made up.

“Okay…” he said to himself while still trying to keep his nouns straight, “Kevin is… not perfect but neither is Steven. They’ve both got problems and that’s fine.”

He looked out at the ocean, feeling a newfound peace as he listened to the waves. “Steven wants to help Kevin, but will I, I mean he, let him?”

The fusion looked down upon his hands. It took a few seconds, but then, he eventually made up his mind… Gripping his hands, Stevin said, “Garnet said there something keeping us together. So… we’ll try to work things out.  _ I’ll  _ try to work things out.” At that point his voice sounded different. Up until this point, it sounded like Steven and Kevin’s voices merely overlapped one anothers’, like with Malachite. But now it seemed the fusion had his own sound, unique to him.

He took a split second to realize this, then smiled a bit, saying, “Yeah. Yeah, this’ll definitely work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not the fusion you were expecting? Stay tuned for more with Stevin next time!


End file.
